F1: Mercedes Feels It May Not Be Competitive in Imola & Portugal 

Mercedes may have won the first race of the 2021 F1 season surprisingly, but it feels that the nature of the tracks in Imola and Portugal may not be as favourable for them to pull off yet another surprise. Pre-season testing revealed that the new 2021 floor rules had pegged the 7-time world champions back. The removal of the floor area impacted low rake cars like the Mercedes and Aston Martin more than the high rake concept ones like the Red Bull RB16B. 

"I don't think we're good enough in the high-speed, and there's plenty of that in Imola and in Portimao, and that's one area where they've got an advantage on us at the moment. Bahrain's quite an outlier circuit - it's very hard on the rear tyres, and it's been really windy here. We've had 30/40 kmph wind, which is pretty much the upper end of what you'd see in a normal race season," revealed Andrew Shovlin, the trackside engineering director at Mercedes. 

The 7-time world champion defied the odds to win the first race despite having the slower car
Photo Credit: AFP

Shovlin, however, revealed that he hoped that the level of performance at Bahrain was truly the best Mercedes could do in 2021. Between pre-season testing and the first race, Mercedes elevated its performance dramatically which is what allowed it to be close enough to Red Bull allowing it to win on the undercut. 

"We're certainly hoping that this is not one of our finest tracks because we've really had quite a tough time, and I think we've got the car in a decent window by the end. But it's been awfully hard work. If you look at Red Bull through the test, through free practice, their car just works really well. They've not looked weak at any point. Hopefully, we'll find circuits that do suit us more than this," he added. 

The Red Bull RB16B is looking like the car to beat in 2021, and even led the first half of the first race

Shovlin believed there was more scope to develop the Mercedes W12 however he also felt that Red Bull was significantly better than it in qualifying. These comments are also in line with what Lewis Hamilton said after the race. 

"We can't match them in qualifying right now. That's a big, big step for us but obviously, I thought we could get closer in the race - but that was a little bit too close for my liking," said Lewis Hamilton after the race. 

"The thing is, we just don't know how much better they'll be in other places that we go to - or how much worse, or how good. Maybe our car's better in other places than it is here, or maybe it's worse, we'll wait and find out. One thing's for sure, we'll work as hard as we can to improve it," added the 36-year old.