Mercedes experiences balance problems in Bahrain: 'A lot of work to do'

Mercedes' new car was the topic of the day in Bahrain. The team came to the second week of testing with new updates and the new design of the side pods is particularly noteworthy. Despite the impression Mercedes made, the team will still have to work hard to solve balance issues.

Mercedes did not look stable on the track today despite its impressive W13. In the afternoon session George Russell blocked his tyres several times and suffered extreme porpoising on the straights. Teams like Ferrari and Red Bull Racing seem to have this problem more under control by now. Engineer Andrew Shovlin explained more about the problems.

"Compared to Barcelona it's been harder to get the car well-balanced around the lap here. We do seem to have made a bit of progress through the day. We've got quite a lot of work still to do regarding validation of the update kit, so it's a bit early to say whether everything is working as expected," he said in an official Mercedes press release.

Work to do for Mercedes

Temperatures in Bahrain are much higher compared to Barcelona, so the Pirelli tires will have a harder time on the rough asphalt. However, with two more test days to go, Mercedes still has plenty of time to fix the problems and optimize the new updates.

"There is certainly more to find in getting the balance right between slow and high-speed corners, and there's also a bit too much tyre overheating. So, plenty to keep us busy for the next two days but we are on a steep learning curve with the new car and tyres - we'll analyse what we have from today and hopefully make a step forward for tomorrow," added Shovlin.