Hamilton didn’t expect to make Bahrain Q3 after Mercedes F1 struggles

Mercedes lacked the performance to run at the front in Friday practice for the 2023 season opener in Bahrain, with Hamilton ending up over six tenths off the pace in eighth in the best of the two W14s.

It followed a difficult pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit last week, where Mercedes appeared to be lagging behind its main rivals – leading to suggestions it could face another uncompetitive season.

But come the first qualifying session of the season, Hamilton from Q2 in third place, and then qualified seventh in the final session, a place behind team-mate George Russell.

The seven-time world champion said that the team had made some good progress after a difficult Bahrain test and a disappointing start to the race weekend on Friday.

“I thought it’d be worse than that, so positive,” he said. “We did some great work overnight, and the car felt much, much better this early afternoon, and then qualifying was okay.

“I thought we would struggle to get into Q3, but we didn’t, we’re in there, and in amongst the fight.”

Asked where the overnight performance came from, he replied: “Just with balance.”

Hamilton admitted the Mercedes W14 is still lacking rear-end stability, although he believes it has been improved through the race weekend.

“It’s definitely better, but we are lacking overall downforce,” he explained. “Particularly at the rear, that’s why we can’t get on the power as early as the Red Bulls and the Ferraris on a single lap, that’s why we struggle with [tyre] deg.

“Same story you have in previous years. Before last year we had better rear end. It’s something we can work on.”

Mercedes experimented with two rear wing set-ups over the weekend, with Hamilton focussing on the new lower drag version that was more tailored for the Sakhir track than the one used in testing last week.

“I mean, we were just moving around, working on things,” he said. “I stayed on the new wing and George came back to me.”

Asked if he was confident that it was the right choice, he said: “Who knows? It was pretty much the same. We did the same times on both the wings.”

Last year, strong race day pace was a feature of the W13 even at tracks where the team had struggled over one lap, but the W14’s degradation issues mean that Sunday form remains unclear.

“We don’t know if we have the pace that we had in long runs last year,” said Hamilton. “Long run pace was good…