Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes have a "mountain to climb" ahead of Bahrain GP
Lewis Hamilton has spoken candidly about Mercedes' chances of victory at the beginning of 2023, explaining that Mercedes is still a few steps behind Red Bull.
Porpoising issues plagued the Silver Arrows throughout last season, with this unexpected phenomenon derailing their chances of fighting for the title.
Significant resources (which have been restricted by the budget cap) were diverted away from development to try and resolve the bouncing phenomenon.
Whilst Mercedes made respectable progress by the end of the year, there was still a considerable gap in performance to Red Bull.
At least for now, it appears the Mercedes W14 is still a few steps behind Red Bull's 2023 challenger, with the RB19 showing tremendous handling, reliability and overall performance in pre-season.
Speaking during the Bahrain tests, Lewis Hamilton discussed his expectations for the start of the season:
"It's my 11th year with the team, and everyone's turned up with the same mentality - working hard - nobody's been complacent.
"We realise that we have a mountain to climb, and no one's fussed.
"Everyone's just kept their heads down, so I'm really proud of that. Everyone in the garage, back here and everyone back in the factory - churning through all this data and pushing on.
"Reliability has been generally very good...
"We're not quite where we want to be, but it's a good platform to start from."
Going into the Bahrain GP, the consensus is that Ferrari and Mercedes will be playing catch-up to Red Bull, although it is always difficult to draw any conclusions from testing.
Mercedes certainly held back some performance during their race simulations, but even optimistic estimates about their pace do not put them ahead of the RB19.
Toto Wolff has spoken about the team's development plans for 2023, which could include alterations to the sidepod concept.
Some analysts have taken this admission as an indication of Mercedes changing the W14's philosophy - and potentially an admission the team has assessed its current path is incorrect.
If it is true that Mercedes will change their sidepod concept mid-season, it seems reasonable to expect something of a transitional phase for the team as they collect data and establish a new baseline.
This is part of the challenge that presents itself to the Silver Arrows this season, with Red Bull already more than comfortable with the foundations they put in place last year - allowing the team to develop consistently.
Other teams across the field have converged towards many aspects of last year's Red Bull, indicating that the Austrian team's overall design is far easier to optimise in the correct window.
Regardless, with the start of the 2023 season just days away, the true pace of the Mercedes W14 will be revealed.