Hamilton rules out 'one-week turnaround' repeat for Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton has ruled out a repeat of last year's one-week turnaround for Mercedes following its pre-season testing struggles.

Mercedes set the fastest time at the first test in Barcelona last month but struggled in Bahrain, leading to concerns it will not be in contention for victory at next weekend's season opener at the same circuit.

Recalling a similar situation in 2021, when Mercedes had a below-par pre-season test but went on to win the opening round at the same circuit in Bahrain shortly after, Hamilton does not believe the team will see a similar change in fortune.

"It feels a lot different," said the seven-time champion. "It's not as good. I don’t think we’re going to be looking as good as last year with the difficult session in practice then the switch to the race.

“We have far bigger challenges this time and they’re not one-week turnarounds. They will take a little bit longer but from what I’m told we have a considerable amount of pace to find.”

Mercedes "currently not on top"

Amid strong pre-season tests for the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, Hamilton praised the reliability of the Mercedes but admitted the team is not among the top performers.

“We’ve got through the test programme, we’ve had decent reliability which has been positive," added Hamilton.

"I think everyone is struggling on this bumpy track and we’ve come out of it knowing that we still have a lot of work to do.

“There’s a confidence that we can always work through whatever problem we are facing.

"At the moment, I’m sure everyone can figure it out, we’re not the quickest. I think Ferrari look to be the quickest, perhaps Red Bull then maybe us or McLaren, I don’t know. Currently, we’re not at the top.”

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