Mercedes has to face up to a Red Bull team that is “just quicker”, according to its trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin, in spite of its victory in Bahrain.
Max Verstappen claimed pole position by almost four-tenths, with Lewis Hamilton second, prompting the World Champion to suggest he expected the deficit to be significantly larger.
It continued a trend from pre-season testing and the weekend’s practice sessions, with Verstappen ahead, while Mercedes chased more pace, having struggled with rear-end stability.
But in race trim Hamilton used the undercut at both pit stops to prise the lead from Verstappen and grabbed victory after a closely-fought battle between the pair.
“We don’t really have any strengths relative to them, is what I would say,” said Shovlin.
“There have been a lot of years where we have been able to rely on straight-line speed or high-speed cornering or interconnected corners, but you look at it here and we weren’t taking any time out of them anywhere.
“There were a couple of corners where they really took chunks out of us in qualifying – the high-speed and also Turn 9 and 10, they were very strong there. That’s really the main thing.
“In qualifying they were just bang on the pace and in their best form they are just quicker than the others, so we need a faster car, simple as that.”
Shovlin described the battle as “definitely close” but says Mercedes can draw on previous challenges mounted during the turbo hybrid era.
“In 2017 or 2018 I think we went four or five races before we won a race,” he recalled.
“Some of those we didn’t get everything perfect, but some of those Ferrari was just better than us in race and quali.
“So we’ve had some tough years in the past few seasons, this is not alien to us and it’s what we’ve got to work with – two teams that look to be pretty much neck and neck at the moment.
“It’s going to be pretty tough and there’s no doubt Red Bull operate really well and are a sharp and well-focused team that don’t make many mistakes.
“Max is clearly a very mature and sharp racer now, so he’s difficult [to compete against]. And they develop well, they have shown every season that they have the capacity to put a lot of performance on the car.
“Regardless of the starting point this is not going to be an easy championship, it is going to be tight and it is one that we are not going to give up on, and they will tell you the same.”
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