Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said the team is not yet where it wants to be after completing three days of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Hamilton drove 172 around the circuit during testing, and his teammate George Russell 189, for a team total of 361.
The seven-time World Champion said in a team press release that it “has been a really good test,” and that he is “really proud of everyone trackside and those back at the factory.”
“It’s massively encouraging and great to see everyone working so well together. The focus, determination, and communication is the best I’ve ever seen,” he said about the teamwork inside the Silver Arrows.
When talking about their W15, Hamilton said that they “know we’ve got work to do and we’re not yet where we want to be.
“We knew that would be the case coming into the test, though.
“We’ve got a great platform to build on. We’ll go away and work hard over the next couple of days to go through all the data from the test.
“I’m really excited for the start of the season next week and we’ll be heading into it in good shape.”
A lot more lap time to be found
Teammate George Russell echoed Hamilton’s comments and said the team has “a lot more lap time to find.”
“The car has been handling well and correlates to the feeling we had on the simulator ahead of coming here. We’ve got a very good base to build from.
“Red Bull are looking very strong once again,” he added. “Nevertheless, I’m confident we’re in a much better place than we were 12 months ago.
“We now need to focus on firstly getting the most out of the package we have and secondly, adding more downforce and trying to close that gap.”