Mercedes ‘better than we expected’ in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix

Following a difficult practice session on Friday, expectations were low around the Silver Arrows ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. But the team managed to find some more performance for Saturday’s qualifying session, and will see George Russell start in sixth position on Sunday, with Lewis Hamilton right behind him in seventh.

“Today was a lot better than we expected, particularly after yesterday. We had a tough Friday; we expected to add a little bit of performance overnight, but we exceeded expectations,” said Russell in a statement provided to the media, including SB Nation. “The changes we made we thought we might find a tenth, but we found close to five or six tenths, so we need to fully understand why that was.”

Hamilton shared the sentiment of progress. “I thought today may be worse than it ended up being. We did some great work overnight and the car felt much better in FP3. Overall, Qualifying was OK. I thought we might struggle to get into Q3 yesterday, but we didn’t. We were in a fight.”

Despite their improvement, both Hamilton and Russell, along with Team Principal Toto Wolff, believe they are still a way behind the top teams in the field. “We don’t know if we have the same race pace that we showed last year but I’m hoping we can be in the fight amongst the group behind Red Bull,” said Hamilton. “It’s really all going to depend on what our long-run pace is like.”

“We don’t know if we have the same race pace that we showed last year but I’m hoping we can be in the fight amongst the group behind Red Bull,” added Russell. “It’s really all going to depend on what our long-run pace is like.”

“The gap to the very front isn’t ridiculous considering we only ran one new soft tyre at the end of Q3. Nevertheless, it’s not where we want to be and not what we had aimed for over the winter. We know what the gap is and what we need to find, or more, to win. Neither driver had a clean lap in the final run,” said Wolff. “There was probably another tenth-and-a-half still in there but it likely wouldn’t have changed much. We maybe could have overtaken [Fernando] Alonso with both cars, but this is where we are.”

Speaking of Alonso, both Russell and Hamilton joined the growing chorus of praise around the veteran driver, and Aston Martin. Alonso qualified in fifth position for Sunday, with Lance Stroll set to start eighth. “I am genuinely happy for Aston Martin. It’s amazing to see their progress and the steps that they have taken,” said Hamilton. “I am happy for Fernando as he’s been here way longer than me so it’s good to have him back in the mix! I’m sure we will have some good races.”

Russell went as far to name Alonso as a dark horse for Sunday’s Grand Prix. “Qualifying three tenths behind Ferrari when they have probably been the fastest car on single lap pace is positive. Fernando is probably more of a dark horse than Ferrari.”

For Sunday, the team has set some reasonable expectations. Red Bull might be a bridge too far form them to catch, but pushing for a spot behind them could be in the cards. “Our straight-line speed looks strong, and our degradation seems to be in a reasonable place,” said Andrew Shovlin, the team’s Trackside Engineering Director. “[T]he Red Bulls are out of reach from what we have seen but it would be good if we can get into a race with the Ferrari and Aston Martins.”