Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff watched as his team finished 265th on the podium at the Bahrain Grand Prix. But Wolff acknowledged that his team was “working hard” last Sunday as he acknowledged that fighting for any of the championships in 2022 could be a daunting task.
Lewis Hamilton and his new teammate George Russell looked set to end the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in 5th and 6th places, never looking like a serious threat to Ferrari and the Red Bulls at the head of the pack.
TECH TUESDAY: Powertrain trails Ferrari 1-2 at Bahrain Grand Prix
But then the late departure of both Red Bulls propelled Hamilton to the podium in third and Russell in fourth, and Wolf was kind enough to admit there was an element of luck as a result, saying, “Today we shot above our weight class. , with Red Bulls DNF-ing.
“At the moment we are fifth and sixth on the track and we are trying to regain positions, but this will not happen from day to day – we will continue to work.”
READ MORE: More Ferrari success or Red Bull resurgence? – 5 storylines that await us ahead of the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Clarifying Mercedes’ specific concerns in Bahrain, Wolf added: “I think we were overwhelmed today. We’ve had too much resistance and that’s only because we don’t have enough parts at the moment. But hopefully we can fix it and make progress on the top two [Ferrari and Red Bull’s] advantage.
“We really need to leave no stone unturned in [power unit] hand and look for all performance gains. But the wing was a problem for us today at straight line speed.”
2022 Bahrain Grand Prix: Pérez loses third to Hamilton after a late turnaround
Ferrari may have scored a perfect score in Bahrain – a Charles Leclerc victory plus a bonus point for the fastest lap, as well as Carlos Sainz’s second place – but Mercedes scored at least 27 points and finished second in the championship, ahead of Haas in a surprising third place. , and Red Bull hasn’t scored yet.
But Wolf was pessimistic when asked about Mercedes’ chances of competing for the drivers’ or constructors’ championship in 2022 as it now trains for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.
READ MORE: Mercedes performance in Bahrain ‘outstanding’ says Russell, but team still ‘far from rivals’
“It’s too early to look at the championship in its current form,” Wolf said. “If you look at today’s hierarchy, it seems that even qualifying for any of the championships is far away.
“If I look at [Bahrain] for one racing weekend, we probably scored the maximum points that we could have. And we need to take it from there. Every weekend counts and at the moment it’s one of a kind, because really, when you’re third away, you can’t think about winning.”
F1 TV Pro provides fans with front row seats, and information and camera images are usually only found in the pit wall. Sign up today for a free 7-day trial* to experience F1 2022 to the fullest.
*Excluding previous free trial users. Terms and conditions apply.