Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes “further back” than expected after Bahrain GP

Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes are “further back” than they expected heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Hamilton could only finish seventh in the season-opening race in Bahrain, 50.3s behind dominant race winner Max Verstappen.

Mercedes teammate George Russell did fare better but was only five seconds up the road from Hamilton.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Hamilton said: “I personally feel great. Physically I feel great so winter training has worked.

“I think we probably feel a little bit of disappointment within the team. I was definitely hoping we’d be better this weekend than we were. It was a tough race. It was close with everybody.

“Degradation is obviously high. There’s plenty of areas in which we can improve. We’re further back to the Red Bulls than we thought we were.”

After a tough start to the race, stuck behind Fernando Alonso, Hamilton seemed to come alive in the final laps, closing in on Russell and Lando Norris ahead.

The seven-time world champion feels that if he was able to qualify up the order, a better result was possible.

“I think today was a struggle in the car,” he added. The platform… I was giving it everything but there wasn’t a lot of performance there compared to some of the others ahead of us.

“If I qualified better I would naturally be a good couple of places ahead. The last stint was good. It was about discovery today.

“I found out a lot about the car. There’s lots we can improve on.”