Toto Wolff could hardly believe victory: 'Must also be honest with ourselves'

Two weeks ago Mercedes were the biggest disappointment during the winter test. There were even speculations that not only Red Bull Racing, but also teams like McLaren and AlphaTauri would be faster. Yet they now have their first win of 2021 already in their pockets and Toto Wolff can hardly believe it.

"If somebody told me before Sunday that a Mercedes win was going to be the result I would not have believed them", the Mercedes team boss is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. "We recovered well from the pre-season test but, if we are 100 per cent honest with ourselves, we are lacking quite a bit of pace in qualifying".

'Red Bull Racing never been better'

Max Verstappen was in fact an impressive four tenths faster than Hamilton on Saturday. The expectation was, therefore, that the Dutchman would be able to pull away with ease during the race. That this didn't happen was due to good teamwork and strategy at Mercedes, but Wolff has no illusions that his team have recaptured their position on the monkey rock.

"In the past, Bahrain has not been a strong race for Red Bull and they have not been particularly good out of the blocks either, but this weekend shows that in 2021, that is no longer the case. I have no doubt they are extremely difficult to beat and are leading the pack", said Wolff who therefore concluded that they were a bit lucky with the victory in Bahrain.