‘We’re a long way off’ - What is going on with Mercedes?

That is how George Russell summed up Mercedes’ performance on the opening day of running at the start of Formula 1’s new era in Bahrain. 

Few believed Mercedes’ claims that it was on the back foot after pre-season, but based on Friday’s two practice sessions at the Bahrain International Circuit, it appears the reigning world champions are genuinely struggling. 

Russell ended the day fourth-quickest but was over half a second down on Max Verstappen on the same tyre compound. 

“It’s clear it’s all about lap time and we are certainly not where we want to be,” he said. “I think we made a bit of progress solving some issues but the pace is just not there at the moment. 

“So we need to really go over the data tonight to really understand why we’re both struggling with the car.” 

Mercedes not only appears to be lagging behind its rivals over one lap, but its long run pace in FP2 will be of equal concern. 

Over a similar race simulation run, Mercedes was around a second slower compared to Red Bull, though exact fuel loads and engine settings are unknown. 

“I think the high fuel pace is a bit more representative and we were consistently over a second slower than where our rivals are,” Russell added. 

“I need to look into the data a bit further. Maybe there’s a reason for it but from our side, we’re definitely not overly happy with the car right now and we’ve got some work to do. But if anyone can, our team can, so let’s see.” 

Why is Mercedes struggling? 

Mercedes’ 2022 challenger looks a handful to drive and is suffering from more extreme porpoising on the straight compared to other teams. 

The excessive high-frequency bouncing and balance issues are concealing the fundamental baseline pace Mercedes believes it has in the W13. 

The porpoising phenomenon stems from the return of ground effect philosophy that has been adopted for F1’s new generation of cars as part of the biggest overhaul to the technical regulations in decades. 

“Because the ground effect on these cars is such a powerful thing, the car is wanting to suck itself to the road a bit like a magnet,” Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained. 

“Obviously when you get there it’s bouncing up and it’s being driven by that effect. That’s why when you lift the ride height or you stop chopping away the floor, and you start affecting that ceiling, you can improve it, but you’re improving it at the expense of performance. 

“Where are we at the moment? I don’t think we’ve got as good a handle on that as some of the other teams and I think the pace you are seeing at the moment is very much dominated by how well people have got on top of that problem - maybe more than the base performance of the car in the wind tunnel.” 

Mercedes ran two different floor configurations on Lewis Hamilton and Russell’s floors during practice in a bid to get on top of its porpoising problems, but as yet, the team is yet to find a solution. 

Adding to Mercedes’ headache, the new upgrade package that was introduced at the second Bahrain test - which features a radical sidepod design - is not delivering as expected. 

“We are truly throwing everything at it at the moment to try and unlock the potential that we think is there, but we’re just really struggling to tap into it at the minute,” Russell conceded. 

“Everything we try is maybe one step forward and two steps back and there’s always a limitation. It’s going to take time, we hoped we would have solved it but how things stand at the moment, we aren’t in the fight and we’ve got some work to do.” 

How long will it take to solve? 

Hamilton, who encountered problems with his front brakes and his DRS (Drag Reduction System), could only manage a lap good enough for ninth, 1.2s adrift of Verstappen and sandwiched between the two Haas cars. 

The seven-time world champion had already warned after testing that Mercedes would not be in a position to fight for victories at the start of the season, a statement that seemed an unthinkable prospect given Mercedes’ form in recent years. 

After Friday practice, Hamilton reiterated that Mercedes is facing “much bigger problems” than before last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, where it bounced back to win despite enduring a similarly tricky pre-season test. 

Hamilton conceded there will be no quick fix to resolve the issues Mercedes is currently facing and ruled out the prospect of winning this weekend. 

“We had smaller problems in the past, relatively, compared to this year,” he said. “We are faced with much much bigger problems this year and everything we do to try and fix it doesn't really change that. 

“It appears there's probably going to be a longer-term fix, so nothing in the short term.

"We’re a long way off. We’re not bluffing like people assume we were. It is what it is. We’ll work as hard as we can through it and do what we can.

“We’re not going to be in the race for the win here,” Hamilton added. “Red Bull is a long, long way ahead. It’s in the region of eight-to-ninth tenths ahead of us and Ferrari is probably something like half a second, six tenths ahead of us. 

“So we’re fighting and scrapping with whoever is behind them.”