Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn says the outfit are making progress with their high rear-tyre wear, which is damaging their pace on the Sunday.
The outfit has shown great one-lap pace, having taken 50 per cent of the pole positions so far. However, when it comes to the race, they have been unable to match the tyre preservation enjoyed by their rivals.
Brawn says this is an area they have focussed on, but warned they’ve not totally resolved the problem.
“In the two weeks since we returned from Bahrain, there has been a lot of hard work taking place in Brackley and Brixworth to prepare for the start of the European season in Barcelona next weekend,” he explained.
“We have focused our efforts in two key areas; finalising our upgrade package for Spain and understanding our comparative lack of race pace in Bahrain.
“We have made progress in the latter area [tyres] and will evaluate some developments over the upcoming race weekends to help improve the situation. We’re not there yet but we are making progress and of course, performing in the race is what really counts.”
