Russell, who has been a victim of porpoising over the three days, has acknowledged that the performance simply has not been there.
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Things have been anything but smooth sailing for reigning constructors’ champions Mercedes as the three-day pre-season testing in Bahrain came to a close on Saturday. The silver arrows never really seemed to be at their best as drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton struggled to come to grips with the new W13. Russell, who has been a victim of porpoising over the three days, has acknowledged that the performance from the W13 simply has not been there. Toto Wolff, the team principal, has a lot to ponder ahead of the first race of the 2022 season in a week’s time.
Read More – Lewis Hamilton outlines issues causing Mercedes problems in Bahrain testing
“I think it’s been pretty productive, very intriguing. Obviously, it’s clear what some of the teams face with the bouncing and [we are] just trying to get on top of that really. We had not so many reliability issues and from that perspective it was positive,” Russell said of the testing in Bahrain.
Russell was one who experienced the worse impacts of porpoising over the three days. “I think it depends how hard you are pushing the car and we are trying to get every last bit of performance out of it and trying to test those limits,” the young Brit said.
“But it’s definitely bouncing around a lot from within – it’s not the comfiest, in all honesty. I don’t really care about comfort if the performance is there but at the moment the performance isn’t there. We do seem a step behind our rivals and we have a lot of work to do between now and next week to understand because in every condition, the Red Bull and Ferrari seem a step ahead of us.”
Read More – F1 Bahrain testing: Max Verstappen tops speed charts on final day
On the final day of Bahrain pre-season testing on Saturday, reigning champion Max Verstappen topped the timesheets after a thrilling time attack. As the sun set in Sakhir, the morning leaderboard was constantly shifting. Due to a late red flag caused by Valtteri Bottas’s stoppage, Red Bull’s Verstappen had 20 minutes for a final time attack, during which he spun 360 degrees at the final corner before setting the fastest lap and improving to an overall benchmark of 1m 31.720s, easily the fastest of the three days in Bahrain.
Charles Leclerc was second, 0.695s behind for Ferrari, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in third after setting his fastest lap in the closing minutes. As a result, Mercedes’ George Russell was demoted to P4 in the morning, with teammate Lewis Hamilton 17th after 78 laps.
