Red Bull and Ferrari see eye-to-eye on one key issue - don’t write off Mercedes

Even before their uncompetitive stint at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton had bemoaned the W14 and team principal Toto Wolff revealed that the entire concept must change.

George Russell later admitted that he expects Red Bull to win every race and he believes the title to already be theirs.

• "Emergency meeting" at Mercedes? F1 technical director given “ultimatum”

Yet Mercedes’ two key rivals are not overlooking them in the same way.

“It’s race one and we don’t have to do any conclusion,” Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said after Bahrain.

“I think that Mercedes will wake up soon. We don’t know what will happen next week. The next race will be a different story in Jeddah, with a different tarmac.

“So let’s see in Jeddah if we have a better picture.”

Ferrari have their own problems - Charles Leclerc retired from the first race of 2023 with a suspected power unit failure, having already taken on a new energy store before the race, in a stunning return to the reliability woes that blighted last season.

• Wolff told to “follow others” for new concept but Mercedes have “no information”

Red Bull, whose star man Max Verstappen sauntered to victory in Bahrain from pole position, are also not condemning Mercedes just yet.

“After one race, it’s difficult to say,” Helmut Marko said.

“There are still many competitors left. I also believe that Mercedes will become better throughout the season.”

Team principal Christian Horner added: “I’ve been around long enough to see things change so quickly.

“I think these cars are still relatively immature and, as teams develop and upgrades come, things will change.

“I think the operating windows of these cars is very narrow and every team in the top three looks like it has developed its own theme. One team [Aston Martin] has adopted our theme and it made a gain.

“So I guess at one point it is going to converge and that can happen during a season.”

The second race of 2023 is the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on March 19.