Formula 1 Bahrain GP
Hamilton: Mercedes F1 team faces "much bigger problems" than 2021
Lewis Hamilton fears his Mercedes Formula 1 team is facing "much bigger problems" than before last year's Bahrain Grand Prix after a pair of low-key free practice outings on Friday.
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Mar 19, 2022, 3:14 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Hamilton ended down in ninth in Friday's second practice session at Sakhir, 1.2 seconds off reigning world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, with teammate George Russell in fourth some six tenths behind.
But while Russell's seemingly encouraging laptime came after a short run, the team is worried it is much further behind than that on high-fuel runs.
The Brackley outfits trialled several solutions on both Hamilton's and Russell's car to cure handling and porpoising issues, which included Hamilton switching to a floor specification Russell used in FP1, but according to the seven-time world champion it still hasn't come closer to finding solutions.
When asked to draw parallels with last year's season start, when Hamilton qualified four tenths off Verstappen after struggling during the pre-season, he says Mercedes' problems are of a much larger scale this time around.
"Compared to this year we've had much, much smaller problems in the past. We're faced with much, much bigger problems this year," Hamilton said on Friday night.
"And everything we do to try and kind of fix it doesn't really change that. It appears there's probably going to be a more longer-term fix, so nothing in the short term."
George Russell, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Teammate Russell reckoned Mercedes is lagging over a second behind Red Bull and Ferrari and is only just about on par with midfielders Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri, as he braces for a weekend of damage limitation.
"I think it's clear from the lap time we're certainly not where we want to be," he added. "I think we made a bit of progress solving some issues, but the pace is not there at all at the moment.
"We're a long way off the pace of Red Bull, Ferrari. Even the likes of Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri seem on our pace or even quicker, so we've got a bit of work to do.
"I think the high fuel pace is a bit more representative and we were consistently over a second slower than where our rivals are.
"We still have race weekend on our hands, and we still need to make the best of this situation and maybe damage limitation, but we need to look into it."
Russell believes Mercedes' new W13 has plenty of potential, but so far the eight-time world championship winning team has not managed to unlock it, calling every possible fix "one step forward and two steps back".
Read Also:
- Bahrain GP: Verstappen leads Ferrari duo in FP2
- Mercedes plans F1 floor experiments in bid to cure porpoising
- Hamilton had meeting with FIA president amid F1 Abu Dhabi report wait
"We are truly throwing everything at it at the moment to try and unlock the potential which we think is there, but we're just really struggling to tap into at the moment ," he explained.
"Everything we try is maybe one step forward, two steps back and there's always a bit of a limitation so it's going to take time.
"I think we all hope that we could have solved it for this weekend but how things stand at the moment we are in fight, and we've got some work to do."
'We need to really go over the data tonight to understand why we're both struggling with the car."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Hamilton makes €50k donation after skipping FIA Prize Giving
Next article Verstappen: Ferrari "very close" on F1 pace at Bahrain GP
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
17 h
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
More from
Lewis Hamilton
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
F1 Brazilian GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
F1 Brazilian GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
More from
Mercedes
George Russell has lost 90 points to Max Verstappen in F1 2026 runner-up battle
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
16 h
George Russell has lost 90 points to Max Verstappen in F1 2026 runner-up battle
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Latest news
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 2 h
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
11 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
12 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 12 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe