Mercedes too slow: 'You can see how George and Lewis are shocked by that"

Martin Brundle can tell from the faces of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell that they are not very happy with the current Mercedes car. The former Formula 1 driver himself is also surprised that the German racing stable led by Toto Wolff has managed to get it so wrong yet again.

"That [1.5 seconds as Hamilton says] seems a lot. Is crisis too big a word for where they are at", Brundle wonders aloud to Sky Sports. The Formula 1 commentator argues that Mercedes needs to keep working together more than anything else if they want to make steps forward. "They certainly need to pull together. They need some direction and they need to make the right moves now. There's no doubt about it, the car they had in Bahrain is further off the pace than anything they had last year."

With the lessons Mercedes was able to learn from the W13, they do not seem to have implemented them when developing the 2023 car. Brundle finds it bizarre that they learned so many things last year, but that the gap between Red Bull and Ferrari actually only widened over the winter. "You can see how George and Lewis are shocked by that."

State of play this weekend

Red Bull is again the big favourite at the Jeddah circuit, but chances are it will be a lot more exciting than in Bahrain. As a driver you can make more of a difference in Saudi Arabia, the average speed over a lap is 50 kilometres per hour higher, while the tyre degradation is actually a lot lower. But, says Brundle: "A good car is a good car whether it's Monza or Monaco," he is referring to the highly competitive RB19.