Mercedes duo struggling in Bahrain - Formula 1 news
Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg seem to be struggling in the heat of Bahrain, as they were behind rivals Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus after the
Friday practice sessions on April 19, 2013.
The German squad enjoyed a very good start to the season with Hamilton finishing on the podium twice in three races. However, their car does not appear to be strong
in hot conditions just like last year.
In 2012, Mercedes faced a similar situation, where they started off the season quite positively, but started losing the battle against top teams as the season progressed.
However, the team was quite confident that the situation has improved this year and they will be right up there with the best in the business. Despite that, they
are once again in a position, which suggests that they will see similar issues to last year, especially on tracks like Bahrain, where the temperature plays a vital role in determining the outcome of the race.
Although Rosberg started off the first practice session with the third fastest lap time, he did not look quite confident later in the day. He was complaining about
having a lot of understeer and claimed that the tyres were going away pretty quickly.
The veteran driver stated, “Today we had a bit too much understeer, but then again you need to have understeer in the car because if you load the front tyres more,
it helps take some load off the rear tyres. This track is really demanding on the rear tyres, and that's the key to winning races here, take care of the rear tyres better.”
On the other hand, Hamilton was also not happy with the settings of his car and said that there is a lot of work to be done before the race day.
The 2008 world champion stated, “We're working as hard as we can and we just need to find some more time from somewhere. I don't really know where we are losing
it. They have changed the car this weekend, changed the settings for what they think the track needs but I'm not convinced it is the right way to go.”
Hamilton is currently fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and will be hoping to secure as many points as possible in Bahrain.
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