Sakhir, Bahrain | AFP | “At the moment, I don’t think we are going to fight for victory, but the car has the potential to do so,” said Mercedes’ Briton Lewis Hamilton on Saturday on the final day of pre-season testing at the Bahrain circuit.
“Next week (in the first Grand Prix, on the same circuit), we will have a much better test of our pace, but I don’t think people will be surprised, maybe…”, continued the seven-time champion of the world.
“I’m sure everyone can see, we are not the fastest at the moment,” said the current runner-up in the world, behind the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull).
“Ferrari seems to be the fastest and maybe Red Bull, and then us or McLaren, I don’t know. We are not at the top right now,” warned Hamilton.
The reliability of his car during the six days of testing in Barcelona at the end of February and on the Sakhir circuit from Thursday “is positive”, according to the 37-year-old English driver, who will race with his compatriot George Russell as teammate .
“We ended up aware that there is still a lot of work to do,” acknowledged Hamilton, who won the Bahrain GP last year after being dominated by the Red Bulls in pre-season testing.
