Mercedes chief breaks down early challenges for W17 during Bahrain testing

George Russell was slow to emerge in the first morning session, and finished sixth on the overall timing charts, while Kimi Antonelli was limited to just 30 laps in the afternoon due to a mechanical issue and finished P11.

Meanwhile, team principal Toto Wolff claimed the Brackley-based outfit were up to one second behind Max Verstappen on the straights in Bahrain, adding that he believes Red Bull are "very much" the early 2026 favourites.

In a press release, Shovlin went through the issues Mercedes faced throughout the first day in Sakhir, explaining why both Russell and Antonelli found life difficult in the W17.

"Today has been difficult, especially compared to the near perfect running that we had in Barcelona, but in many ways, it has served to highlight a few areas that we need to improve.

"We had several issues that meant we were late getting out first thing; that was due to a few changes in the garage that we hadn't done before during a session and that took a bit longer than expected. On top of that, the car balance wasn't great causing challenges with brake locking, poor traction and general inconsistency."

On Antonelli's tricky afternoon, Shovlin explained Mercedes discovered a suspension issue which needed to be checked for before the young Italian could get out on the hard compound tyre for a baseline run.

"During the various changes, we discovered an issue on the suspension that required further investigation. That cost us a couple of hours and, once we had left the garage, we only had time remaining for two sets of the hardest tyre to baseline the car and work on our long running.

Team principal Wolff addressed concerns that pressure from other teams on the grid may see all four Mercedes-powered teams miss out the first Grand Prix of the season on March 8th in Melbourne.