Mercedes knows what needs to be done: 'We need a faster car'

The Mercedes team was ecstatic after the unexpected victory during the Bahrain GP. That reaction seems to indicate that Mercedes is far from confident that they will become champion this year. Engineering director Andrew Shovlin is even convinced that Red Bull Racing has the strongest car in the field this year. Whether this is another manoeuvre towards an underdog position will become clear during this year.

Strengths

Mercedes may have taken victory in Bahrain, but on Saturday during qualifying the team had to give way to Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, on a track that could be labelled as a favourite for the Brackley team. During the F1 Nations Podcast Andrew Shovlin admits that the current world champion is losing out in many aspects compared to the RB16B.

“We don’t really have any strengths relative to them – is what I would say – and we’ve had a lot of years where we’ve been able to rely on straight-line speed or high-speed cornering or interconnected corners. But you look at it here [in Bahrain] and we weren’t taking any time out of them anywhere."

Red Bull was better

According to Shovlin, it was possible to see in detail on the track where the Austrian team was better. "Qualifying, they’re just bang on the pace in our best corners, and they’re just quicker in others." The solution is as clear as day for Shovlin: "We need a faster car, it's as simple as that."

Whether Mercedes will be able to put Max Verstappen and Red Bull back in second place in Imola remains to be seen. The Austrian team has already announced updates and the track should suit the RB16B better according to experts.