Valtteri Bottas believes that Mercedes may not be in the picture when the 2019 Formula One season gets underway in Melbourne. Mercedes has struggled comparatively with its rivals throughout testing so far.
Mercedes has played its cards close to the chest so far throughout winter testing but many in the paddock believe Ferrari may well have usurped the reigning world champions as the fastest car on the grid.
Although a bundle of new updates have been brought to the car for the second week of testing, Bottas is unsure if the team will be competitive enough to race for the win in Australia.
“Hurdles or obstacles, there’s always those in this sport and with a new car," he is quoted by RaceFans.
“But definitely we have some kind of balance issues we still need to solve. Many things in the car we can still improve.
“I have faith in the team, we’ve been in difficult situations before with the car, we’ve had race weekends where we’ve been under-performing with the car. So any obstacle I feel it is possible to overcome.
“But again it’s all about how to work and working together as a team for that. I trust everyone in our factory, I think the race team is really making sure with the starting point we have for the season that we’re going to the best possible shape for Melbourne.
“If it’s going to be enough to win races that’s completely unknown at this point, time will show. But for sure we will try everything we can for that.”