'Maybe Mercedes will be a little further back in the first few races'

According to Damon Hill, we shouldn't write off Mercedes just yet. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell said during the test weeks that the team cannot yet fight for victories.

Russell even went so far as to say that not only was Red Bull Racing ahead of them, but so was Ferrari. Hill says at Sky Sports F1 that for now, it's mostly a matter of waiting until the first qualifying session of 2022. Only then will the true speed of the new cars be seen.

Mercedes should never be written off

Hill does admit that there is a chance that Mercedes will indeed be behind, but that there is a good chance that the team will then catch up. "We've got 23 races so the championship is a long haul and they might be coming from behind in the first few races but I've learned not to discount them," says the 1996 world champion.

Mercedes has huge resources, but according to Hill, they are limited in terms of spending because of the budget ceiling. Despite this, the Briton assumes that Red Bull and Mercedes will lead the field. However, Hill does think Ferrari will come out strong. "Yeah, we can see Ferrari in the mix, both drivers are very good and the car looks reasonably good too," Hill concludes.