We kind of knew that a little bit in the test, but it’s a big gap. I’m trying everything I can out there but it is what it is and so we’ve just got to try and work at it.”
Hamilton ended the second practice sessions eighth on the times sheets, 0.636 seconds slower than pace-setter Fernando Alonso. George Russell was only 13th in the other Mercedes, nearly a full second off the pace.
The W14 didn’t feel especially strong on single-lap pace or over a race stint, said Hamilton. “I think they’re very, very similar. We’re offset in the low and in high to Red Bull. Just looking at the long runs, they were a second a lap faster. So we’ve got a lot to work on.”
Mercedes are only likely to find small gains in performance between now and tomorrow’s qualifying session, said Hamilton.
“I think I got the car to the best place I can get it, set-up wise. We’ll continue to tweak little bits here and there but it’s going to be small bits here and there, which is milliseconds, it’s not going to be the closing of the gap of a second.
The team went into the new season with high expectations that it would make progress after curing the bouncing which plagued its car last year. However Hamilton said the team hasn’t made the performance gains it expected to find.
“I thought that the Ferraris were second,” he said. “I think on the long run, we’re quite close to Ferrari. It looks like Aston was second and we’re between third and fourth. So we’re kind of either where we were last year, if not a little bit further behind.
“It’s difficult for everybody and this is really not where I think anyone in the team wants to be, and certainly not where I believe everyone in the team deserves to be, because everyone continues to work so hard and we’re so courageous and thoughtful.
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“But we’re just on the wrong track so we’ve got to just continue to graft away and find a way to get on the right track. Right now we’re a long way from the guys in front.”
Hamilton said he will continue to be “hopeful” the team can make gains with its car. “I think there was good progress through last year, but the gap wasn’t as big as it is now.
Testing absentee Lance Stroll was mileage-limited early in the session by “an ignition issue” but moved up to sixth on softs in the end, and looks on course to race in Bahrain with screws in his wrist after an off-season accident required surgery.
A significant share of teams deciding not to use softs meant the competitive picture was even more muddled than it normally is in FP1, and Mercedes’ placement in 10th and 11th was a clear outlier, both its drivers logging their fastest laps on mediums.
