Mercedes knows that it needs to make up a lot of ground if it wants to compete for the title this year. The German formation is second in the championship, but James Vowles also knows that this is not a representative picture.

Mercedes is behind

Mercedes is having a difficult start to the 2022 Formula One season. Ferrari is a street length ahead of the German team and Red Bull also seems to have built a faster car. Mercedes is lucky in that respect that the Austrians have already had three dropouts in as many races, which means Mercedes is still second in the championship.

In Australia, the ratio seemed just different again and Mercedes was slightly closer to Red Bull Racing. According to Vowles, it will therefore differ from circuit to circuit how the teams perform. The Motorsport Strategy Director states in the F1 Race Debrief of Mercedes also that the team is trying to improve every race and understand more about the car.

Red Bull's mistakes

Yet a critical note is also heard. Indeed, where Mercedes was closer to Red Bull, the gap to Ferrari was larger than in Bahrain. ''In terms of where we stand we have to be realistic. We were a second too slow in qualifying compared to Ferrari and in the race Leclerc drove in his own league.''

According to Vowles, the small gap to Red Bull was mainly due to the Austrians' problems. ''Red Bull was suffering a lot from wear and tear. Bahrain was relatively our best race so far. We have a plan on how to make the car better. The competition will have that too, but we have to do everything we can to come back,'' Vowles concluded.