Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is impressed by Lando Norris’ best time of the day at the Formula 1 tests in Bahrain on Wednesday: Mercedes is making progress
The Formula 1 test drives in Bahrain provide a first impression of the relative strengths of the teams – but it is still too early for any reliable statements. After a day and a half, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is cautiously optimistic about the performance of his Mercedes team, but makes it clear that many unknowns make analysis difficult.
But Wolff was particularly impressed by the performance of Lando Norris in the McLaren, who set the best time on the first day of testing with a 1:30.430: “Yesterday, Norris was on another planet,” says Wolff. Nevertheless, the Austrian relativized the significance of the times: “We have no idea about the fuel quantities. The conditions are also completely unrepresentative.”
Because the truth also includes the fact that in Thursday’s morning session, George Russell was able to beat the previous day’s best time after just half an hour. As the session progressed, times fell by another second.
In any case, the new Mercedes W16 has so far shown itself to be quite fast on a hot lap, but the pattern of relatively high tire wear was repeatedly noticeable in the long runs, especially on Wednesday evening. In the long runs at the end of the session, Russell was over seven-tenths per lap slower than Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, even though the exact fuel loads are also unclear here.
Wolff: “Tried something that didn’t work”
“Maybe yesterday afternoon we tried something that didn’t work,” said Wolff. ”It wasn’t so good. And it’s about having a car that gives you more confidence. That was what we lacked last year. It was a bit unpredictable and this seems to be a small step forward.”
Despite the progress compared to last year, Wolff still sees some unanswered questions, particularly regarding the performance of the W15 in different weather conditions. Last year, the Mercedes was particularly strong in cool temperatures, for example at Silverstone, Spa and Las Vegas.
Whether this pattern will continue in 2024 remains unclear: “I’m a bit concerned because, in fact, we should be two seconds faster than everyone else in these conditions. Either we have fixed the problem and are now better in all climates – or we haven’t,” said Wolff with a twinkle in his eye.
The test in Bahrain is taking place in surprisingly cold conditions, with temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius and track temperatures only hovering around 20 degrees Celsius. On the second day of testing, an unseasonal rain shower in the morning session also temporarily halted the action on the track.
