If you look only at Mercedes' result in the Bahrain Grand Prix, with a third-place for Lewis Hamilton and a fourth-place for George Russell, they don't look bad at all. However, the reality is very different for the championship team and Toto Wolff even thinks that fighting for the championship is out of the question this year.
Mercedes punching above their weight
Three laps before the end of the race, Mercedes seemed to have to make do with fifth and sixth place, but with the retirements of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the final stages of the race, Hamilton suddenly found himself on a podium with his brand new teammate Russell behind him in fourth place. Thus Mercedes is still in second place in the championship.
Wolff was therefore very happy with this result after the race. "If we had finished third and fourth last year [in Bahrain] it would have been very frustrating," said the Mercedes team boss in Independent. "But this year we have been punching above our weight. With the Red Bulls dropping out, this is a fantastic result."
Mercedes has small chance to win championship
Although Mercedes can be satisfied with the result of the first race of the season, the team has to admit that it comes up considerably short on Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. The world champions of the past eight years hardly had a chance in Bahrain. Wolff is therefore realistic about Mercedes' championship chances this year.
"If you look at the pecking order in Bahrain, we have a small chance to even think that we can qualify for one of the championships," the Austrian has to admit. Mercedes will certainly not give up yet and will do everything in its power to still connect with Ferrari and Red Bull, but until then the team will have to seize its opportunities when they arise. Something Mercedes did in Bahrain at least with both hands.