Problems at Mercedes? 'No reason to worry yet', says Hamilton

The first two days of the winter test in Bahrain have not gone as planned for Mercedes. The team have struggled to find the optimum balance and has almost one hundred laps less on the clock than Red Bull. Despite this there is no reason for panic according to Lewis Hamilton.

In a press conference after the second day of testing Hamilton gave his view on the sessions. "It was OK, better than yesterday - not so much sand. The track doesn't have a huge amount of grip and long runs aren't the easiest but at least the sun was out!"

The British driver continued: "The balance was slightly improved compared to yesterday but we're still working through certain things. For today the wind did a 180° shift so the track was very different, and you could push in certain places where you couldn't yesterday."

"It was very gusty as I found out at turn 13 and the rear doesn't feel particularly great with this new regulation change but we're still trying to find the sweet spot." The driver, who had his contract with Mercedes extended by a year this year, spun at Turn 13, hit the gravel trap and caused a short-lived red flag.

No reason to panic

Despite the sub-optimal start for the Brackley-based team, Hamilton sees no reason to panic just yet. He explained: I've done 60-odd laps today and Valtteri missed a lot of track time yesterday so it's not a lot compared to other tests we've had but we're trying to be as effective as we can."

"We have less mileage than some of the others like Red Bull but we're just trying to stick to our programme and manage the laps to try to be efficient. We're just focusing on understanding the car, there's no point in getting worried," Hamilton concluded. The Briton will get back in the car for the afternoon session on Sunday.