Mercedes are the big losers in Bahrain

They're definitely not the fastest and their unique car concept isn't going to work.

The 2023 season opener in Bahrain showed Mercedes are going backwards in their bid to re-conquer F1.

Mercedes were only the 4th-quickest team during the weekend in Bahrain. Red Bull, Ferrari, and Aston Martin were all faster.

After finishing Sunday’s race 5th and 7th, team boss Toto Wolff said it had been “one of our worst days in racing”.

It’s clear now that Mercedes did not fare as well over the winter break as some of their rivals.

When 2022 wrapped up, they were one-off race winners and were even rivalling Ferrari for 2nd-place honours.

Now they’ve fallen to 4th in the pecking order and the gap to Red Bull, who remain at the front, feels much more significant.

Wolff said Red Bull, who finished 1st and 2nd in Bahrain, were “on a different planet” now.

So what on earth went on at Mercedes?

Well, they now think their design concept is wrong.

Wolff said on Saturday in Bahrain that he does not think the current car could ever become “competitive”, according to Autosport.

He thinks they need to change the design if they are to succeed in F1.

Wolff said Mercedes would now need to regroup and decide on a development direction that could win races.

Lewis Hamilton also said during the Bahrain weekend that Mercedes were “on the wrong track” and it would be hard to close the gap with the current concept, Motorsport.com reported.

These are significant comments.

Effectively, the top brass at Mercedes believe their unique design, first introduced last year, cannot lead to ultimate glory.

For Mercedes fans, it’s a soul-sucking admission. Another year of scarce success, just like 2022, now seems likely.

Still, some team members struck a more optimistic tone in Bahrain.

Driver George Russell said there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the car, except that it lacked downforce.

Russell claimed this would be an easy problem to solve, adding that Mercedes were good at development and finding performance.

But, as Russell pointed out himself, Mercedes are still “a long way” behind where they want to be.

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott also said in a Bahrain press conference that they were not close to a decision about changing car concept - seemingly at odds with what team boss Wolff would later say.

Elliott said Mercedes were still keen on their unique “zero sidepod” solution, despite looking at other designs.

“Is that the right long-term solution? I guess we're going to find out,” he said.

These much more optimistic “wait and see” comments from Elliott were made a day before Wolff’s blunt admission about the need to change concepts.

Maybe the team’s lowly qualifying in 6th and 7th made the difference? Was Wolff exaggerating? It’s hard to know.

Only time will tell whether Mercedes actually decide to overhaul their car’s design.

Whatever they decide, they’ll have a mountain to climb.

Fernando Alonso was able to breeze past both Mercedes cars in Bahrain and in the closing laps Hamilton couldn’t get past the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

“We need to dig deep,” Wolff said, “deeper than we ever have done before.”