Mercedes might not be entirely happy with their performance in the official pre-season test in Bahrain. The W13 seemed a twitchy beast, and the drivers were finding it hard to tame it, keep it on the tarmac. When asked about this thought on their pre-season performance, the 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton mentioned that currently, they are not in a position to challenge for race wins.

Compared to Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari looked more stable and faster throughout the Bahrain testing. The German team were finding it hard to counter the sudden movements in their new car. Lewis further mentioned that there might be some inherent problems within the W13.

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He also revealed that because the Bahrain circuit has a lot of bumps, it is making the W13 bounce a lot more. The bounce in the car may be behind the issue of floor damages and loss of downforce on the straights.

Lewis Hamilton shares his plan to fight back

As reported by the Official Website of Mercedes F1, the British rival admitted the fact the German team is not the fastest on the grid currently. There were many instances throughout the 3 days where we could see Hamilton fighting the car.

“We have some hurdles to overcome and obviously next week we’ll get a much better showing of our pace. I’m sure everyone can figure out that we are not the quickest at the moment,” said Lewis.

But he was confident that his team would be able to rectify the problems and be more competitive in the first race of the season next week.

“I think everyone struggled out on this bumpy track and we come out of testing knowing that we still have a lot of work to do. There’s confidence within the team that we can always work through whatever problem we’re facing and that’s what we’ll do. I have all the faith in the men and women back at the factories to get on top of our issues. One thing is for certain, we’ll be bringing our fighting spirit to the first race next weekend!” said Lewis.

Watch This Story: F1 Drivers Fighting on Track

It is rare to see the German team encountering so many problems in the preseason tests. But it would surely be a mistake to write them off. The 8-time constructors’ champions have built a great legacy and they are not going to let that go easily. As for now, fans are now looking forward to the season opener and can not wait to see who would be leading the race after the first turn of the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.