On numerous occasions over the last few seasons we have seen Mercedes struggling during pre-season testing but, coming into the first race, they were always in or very close to first position.
That is the main reason why Max Verstappen, the German team’s biggest rival during the past year, does not believe all the pessimistic messages that are being released from Mercedes and continuously in these Bahrain tests.
The Dutchman believes that history could repeat itself and, speaking to some of the media, including Motorsport.com, he recalled some of the phrases that Toto Wolff or Lewis Hamilton have used in the past when Mercedes spent fighting in the tests to dominate the races virtually unopposed.
“They always do that. If another team is doing well or is expected to do well, then they always say ‘oh no, obviously we’re not the favourites.’
“But then a week later, when things are going well [for Mercedes], they suddenly say: ‘oh no, we have completely changed everything in just one week. It has not been a normal job, it is something incredible. Thank you all the people in the factory.
“They were like that last year too, and then they were very strong during the first weekend of racing,” Verstappen said recalling Mercedes’ struggles before kicking off the 2021 season.
The Red Bull driver also did not forget Ferrari, which unlike Mercedes , have been very solid and fast since the first test day in Barcelona, keeping a low profile in front of the public with whom they prefer not to get too wet.
“It is always difficult to say who is the fastest, but what I have seen and what I think is nice for Formula 1, of course, is that Ferrari seems to be consistently fast. At least it is obvious that they have a stable car in this moment”.
“Things just look good for them, they’ve also had very few problems. We’ll see next week who’s quicker, but they’ve had a very good pre-season so far,” he added.
The fact that they had been fighting for the 2021 world championship until the last race of the championship could hurt Red Bull and Mercedes compared to Ferrari , Verstappen believes.
“Their last two years were not good, so they were able to focus on this season a bit earlier than other teams. It is normal that they started work on the 2022 car before us and that can be an advantage. But, with these new cars, how fast they develop during the season will be the most important thing,” he concluded.
Next week, specifically from March 18 to 20, Formula 1 will play its first race of the 2022 season, a Bahrain Grand Prix that will repeat the stage after hosting the last pre-season tests at the Sakhir International Circuit. That weekend, all the cards will finally be revealed.
