The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team ended the second race of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix with a second consecutive 1-2 finish. In a good start to the new season, the Silver Arrows lead the constructors’ championship from arch-rivals Ferrari by 39 points.
Ferrari went into the first race of the Formula 1 season at the Australian Grand Prix as favourites after a strong performance in winter testing.
The Mercedes team, the reigning world champions, were on the backfoot, but the team turned the form book on its head in Melbourne, taking the maximum possible 44 points and an 1-2 finish in Australia.
At the Bahrain International Circuit, Ferrari dominated all weekend, but on race day when the points are handed out, the Mercedes team finished 1-2 again.
Toto Wolff Says Reliability Won Mercedes The Race
The misfortune that befell the Ferrari drivers led to this unexpected result. “Charles was very unfortunate today; he was the quickest guy out there and should’ve won the race. But on the other side that’s racing; sometimes you are lucky, sometimes you are unlucky – in my experience it all weighs out in the end,” said Toto Wolff, the Mercedes Team Principal.
Wolff summarized his drivers performance, “Lewis drove a strong race today. He fought a fight with a weapon that maybe wasn’t on his opponents’ level, but he managed to stay close to Vettel and win that battle on track, which was one of the key moments for the victory.
“Valtteri had a tougher day in the office, he was struggling with the tyres on the very abrasive asphalt here in Bahrain.”
Wolff acknowledged that the team has a lot of work ahead, “We’re walking away with 43 points from this weekend, but it is clear that we were very fortunate today and that it was our reliability, not our pace that won us the race.
“We are lacking straight line speed which is very important in China. So we need to stick our heads together and analyse why we were struggling with our pace both in qualifying and in the race.
“It’s a very close fight and we need to make sure to bring our A game in order to be competitive in Shanghai.”
