Lewis Hamilton, British driver of the Mercedes AMG F1 W15. March 2, 2024. The first race of the Formula 1 World Championship took place at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain.
Toto Wolff, head of the Mercedes Formula 1 team, revealed that the unexpected need to cool the engines of both cars during the Bahrain Grand Prix resulted in a loss of 0.5 seconds per lap for the drivers.
George Russell, starting from third position, took advantage of Charles Leclerc’s brake problems and found himself leading a group of cars behind Max Verstappen in the early stages of the race.
However, Russell was instructed not to use the overtaking mode and was overtaken by both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari cars, dropping to fifth place in the end.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, starting from ninth position on the grid, struggled to make progress and finished the race in seventh place. He was also warned to cool his power unit during the race.
Mercedes had shown promising performance during the tests and training sessions leading up to the race, with Russell qualifying in third place. However, engine problems hindered their potential during the race.
Wolff stated, “The car was stable and good, and the drivers liked it. The start was good, but unfortunately we had to cool the engine more than expected. We still don’t understand where this came from. It was unexpected and as a result, we had to turn off 0.3-0.4 seconds of power unit performance and resort to lifting and coasting. Overall, we lost 0.5-0.6 seconds compared to what their car had, and it wasn’t a great experience.”
Despite hopes of reducing the gap to Red Bull after a tight qualifying session, Max Verstappen comfortably won the race with a 22-second advantage over his teammate.
Wolff acknowledges that Verstappen’s performance was extraordinary and described him as being in a league of his own. He also recognized the differences between the Ferraris and the group composed of Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes. Wolff believes that if Mercedes can solve their problems and manage their race weekend better, they will be able to compete with these teams.
When asked if Verstappen seems unbeatable compared to last season, Wolff replied, “Unfortunately, yes. We have to recognize that his performance levels are really strong.”
However, Wolff still holds hope that Mercedes can catch up to Red Bull this season, highlighting Sergio Perez’s deficit to Verstappen as a positive point for Red Bull’s rivals.
“In qualifying, we were quite close to each other. That was good, and I believe our performance was overshadowed by our problems,” he said. “Perez is 20 seconds behind his teammate, so we have hope. It’s a faint and distant hope, I can barely see it.”
