Mercedes forced to investigate FP1 woes despite optimism after key change

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has suggested the team will need to "dig into" the reasons for a difficult first practice session of the year at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Silver Arrows endured an up-and-down pre-season test last week and entered the first weekend of the campaign on the back foot.

Lewis Hamilton led George Russell as the Brackley-based outfit finished FP1 in 10th and 11th, although neither driver swapped the medium compound Pirellis for softs.

READ MORE: Hamilton given FIA jewellery exemption over 'disfigurement' fears

"We have had three days of testing, we knew we are a bit behind especially Red Bull," Shovlin told Sky Sports F1.

"The first run was as expected but the second run on the new tyres, we didn't really find a lot.

"So we need to dig into that because I thought we would have gained a bit there.

"If you look at the test, we weren't really happy on the medium tyre, we were better on the soft and we have those this afternoon."

READ MORE: Perez puts Red Bull on top, Alonso sparks Aston Martin hope and Ferrari hit trouble

New Mercedes rear wing

Mercedes has added a new rear wing as an update between the test and opening round in the hope more performance can be found in its battle for podiums.

"It looks fine aerodynamically so we have got data on all the pressure tabs so we can measure that," said Shovlin.

"We would have liked to have had that last week but that was all in production so they have done a good job to get those here for us to run for this race and I think we will stay with that for this weekend."

READ MORE: March's key F1 diary dates

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 champion Lando Norris takes down journalist in tense exchange: 'Did you even watch the race?'

• 1 hour ago

Fernando Alonso drops F1 bombshell by saying Aston Martin renewal would be MULTI-year deal

• 1 hour ago

F1 Spanish Grand Prix 2026 results: Final classification with all penalties applied at Madring

• 2 hours ago

F1 News Today: Lewis Hamilton concedes title as Sky Sports blame F1 driver for Madrid mess

• 3 hours ago

'For f*** sake F1': Top Gear legend goes in hard over 'petty rules' at 'stupid track'

• Yesterday 22:42

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolf blasts 'bulls*** couch warriors' on Kimi Antonelli conspiracy

• Yesterday 21:57