Christian Hewgill believes optimism has fallen at one F1 team after pre-season testing

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Optimism has gone down a notch at Mercedes following pre-season testing in Bahrain last week.

Toto Wolff and his team would have hoped they could close the gap to Red Bull over the winter, especially as Adrian Newey was particularly interested in one new part on their car.

However, speaking from the track in Sakhir on The Fast and The Curious Podcast, journalist Christian Hewgill has shared what he’s heard about the team’s prospects.

Optimism at Mercedes has ‘gone down a notch’ after testing

After years of being at the front of the grid, Mercedes are now beginning to understand how the rest of the paddock felt when Lewis Hamilton – and Nico Rosberg – were winning consecutive titles.

For the first time in years, they failed to win a Grand Prix and that’s likely played a part in Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari in 2025.

George Russell is likely to lead the team for the foreseeable future now and will want to add to his only Grand Prix victory.

Although Mercedes finished runners-up in the Constructors’ Championship in 2023, they were miles off the pace of Red Bull and rarely the second-quickest car on the grid.

They’ve made some steps forward, but the suggestion is that optimism at Mercedes has fallen slightly after testing.

Ferrari looked really fast and Aston Martin appear to have built a very solid car, while you can never write off McLaren.

Ultimately, we have to wait and see just how fast each team is when qualifying comes around on Friday.

Until then, teams still have a few days to try and eke out any tiny improvements they can before returning to the track.

Mercedes still playing catch up to Red Bull

Speaking about how positive Mercedes were before heading to Bahrain, Hewgill said:

“I think that’s probably gone down a notch from what I’m hearing.

“I think they didn’t quite as smoothly as they wanted it to and that’s why I think Ferrari might be the second quickest. I might be wrong and that’s why it’s so exciting.”

Although optimism might have fallen slightly at Mercedes after testing, they’ve got two drivers who can extract every bit of speed possible out of the F1 W15.

Hamilton will want to leave the team on a high while Russell will want to cement his place as the team’s number-one driver heading into 2025.

The talk will be about who is going to be his new teammate, and while there are high hopes for Kimi Antonelli, he may end up alongside Fernando Alonso or even Carlos Sainz.

The trio would offer very different challenges to the 26-year-old and he has to prove he’s up to the task.