Red Bull deliberately slower? Mercedes: 'Everyone was closer to Red Bul'

The Mercedes team looks back on last race weekend with a positive feeling. Lewis Hamilton brought joy to the Brackley-based crowd with a second-place finish. Mercedes chief executive James Allison looks back on the successful weekend in Australia in a press release.

"We didn’t have huge breakthroughs, but we moved forward a little bit. We put a small amount on the leaders Red Bull, and we are starting to get on terms with, and maybe just nose a whisker in front of, the Ferraris and the Aston Martins." Was it the track or were it changes to the car that made the difference? "I think the biggest shift in Australia was that Red Bull were a little bit more off form in qualifying compared to the rest of the grid, and that sort of closed up the field."

'Gap from Mercedes to Red Bull shrunk'

"Different, yes, to Red Bull, but not a completely different animal compared to the rest of the field." sounds suggestive from the German side. So could Red Bull have taken a bit of a breather after all? Allison expects that Mercedes will also be able to come out well in Baku. "I think we got some reasons to think that as we keep working on our car, we will be able to make the hop from Melbourne to the different challenge of Baku and still have a good showing.", he said, sounding optimistic.

The team still has until the end of the month to develop the W14 further. What are the team and the factories planning? "We will be working in the drawing office also to bring some mechanical parts to the car, some different suspension components that we think will help the underlying balance of the car and make it a more driveable thing, making it something that the drivers have more confidence to push right to the limits."