Mercedes take big gamble on SURPRISE testing strategy

Mercedes have taken a surprise approach to their tyre choices for pre-season testing, loading up with a massive 25 sets of medium compound tyres.

Testing kicked off on Wednesday in Bahrain, with fans able to see teams' 2024 challengers out on track properly for the first time.

In three full days of testing, teams will be able to gather bucket loads of data on their new cars, as well as how certain tyres react under certain stresses and conditions.

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Ahead of the event, Pirelli released their guide to which of their tyres will be on show in Bahrain, as well as how many of each compound that teams have decided to take.

While the majority of the grid have favoured more medium tyres,Mercedes have taken it to the extreme, taking just four sets of hards for their drivers and eight sets of softs, with the rest of their tyre allowance being taken up by the yellow-walled mediums.

Mercedes' change in 2024 strategy

This means that a whopping 25 sets of mediums will be available for the Brackley-based squad to use, compared to Red Bull's 20 and Ferrari's 19.

George Russell took to the track for the whole day on Wednesday, while the outgoing Lewis Hamilton will be their main man on Thursday, before the pair of them split duties for the final day of testing on Friday.

Mercedes will be hoping to show off signs that their W15 has managed to close the gap to dominant world champions Red Bull, having not won a single race in 2023.

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