'Alarm bells have rung at Mercedes after new problems'

Mercedes have had better preparations for the new season. There are a lot of question marks over the gearbox for 2021. On Friday it was Valtteri Bottas who was inside all morning because of transmission problems and Saturday morning it was Sebastian Vettel's turn at Aston Martin. Alarm bells are said to have started ringing.

That is what the Italian Motorsport.com reports. Toto Wolff said on Friday that he didn't know exactly what caused the problem with Bottas' gearbox. It is not clear if an explanation has been found.

Reliability problems in Mercedes

It is clear that there are issues with the reliability of the new transmission. Last winter, a major update was rolled out which was supposed to help generate aerodynamic gains, but so far it has mainly resulted in stationary cars in the pit box.

The grapes are sour this year because testing is only allowed for three days. Bottas and Vettel have lost valuable track time that is not so easy to make up.