Wolff: Mercedes 'still playing catch-up' to Red Bull

Toto Wolff has conceded Mercedes is 'still playing catch-up' on Red Bull as the 2023 Formula 1 season kicks off in Bahrain this weekend.

Mercedes were forced to watch Red Bull largely fulfil the status quo in pre-season testing, proving their car still superior to their rivals.

The new-improved W14 will be unleashed this weekend and the Formula 1 audience will be able to see what it is capable of - and Wolff knows that there are a number of unknowns around car performance.

"We didn't have the smoothest winter test in Bahrain," said Wolff.

"We had some reliability problems and struggled with the car set-up on day two.

"But the key objective was to learn about the car, and we did lots of learning. We made good progress on the final day, which gave us directions to work on in the short period between the test and this weekend's race.

"It's always hard to have a clear picture of competitiveness at pre-season testing - and even more so with only three days of data available.

"Our expectations were that we would likely be playing catch-up to the front, based on how last year ended. That seems to be the case so far but we will only know for sure after this weekend."

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Mercedes 'stronger than 12 months ago'

But Wolff was keen to add that they feel that they are in a better position than they were this time last year, as they adjusted to the new regulations.

"Nevertheless, we are confident we have got a car we can work with and are in a stronger position than 12 months ago," he added.

"More importantly, we are relishing the challenge.

"This championship will be fought over 23 race weekends, and each one will give us an opportunity to improve. The start of a new season is always exciting, whether you've been working in this sport for a few decades, years or weeks.

"So much hard work has gone into the W14 over the winter and the anticipation to be get racing has kept on building. We will be going flat out this weekend - and are determined to keep that going to the final lap in Abu Dhabi."

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