Mercedes Claim They Are "Catching Red Bull And Ferrari"

The Mercedes F1 team have said they are "catching up" with Red Bull and Ferrari whilst also confirming they are not experiencing any porpoising during the pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff has reflected on the pre-season testing so far. He explained:

“ We didn't suffer from porpoising, which is good news.

“We spent the first day collecting data, comparing it to last season's data and how much the tools output at the factory.”

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton has also spoken about his run in the W14. He said:

“We have completed our program and have collected a lot of data. We have to keep pushing, focusing on ourselves. It's hard to know where we stand compared to the others, but we'll have a clearer picture in the coming days."

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has the same view, explaining:

“The performance picture is never clear after just one day of testing, so it's hard to say where we are.

“It always takes a few days to figure out a new car, but we have ideas where we want to improve the balance. It was encouraging that the W14 has a much calmer and more stable platform than the W13.

“We will work starting from the assumption that we are catching up with Red Bull and Ferrari. For this we have to do everything possible to find performance in view of the first race here in a week."

The teams, drivers, and fans, won't know fully until the Bahrain Grand Prix next week as this is when we will be able to see the true performance of all of the cars on the grid.