Schumacher on Mercedes problems: 'That's an absolute horror'

During the winter test it turned out that Mercedes did not have things in tip-top shape as they did in previous years. The team is now looking into the matter and the general expectation is that they will be up and running as soon as the season starts. In the meantime, Red Bull Racing have shown that they are ready for the season, with the RB16B running smoothly and with no problems to speak of.

The question now is whether Mercedes will be able to correct the irregularities they observed during the winter test before the season starts. Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher is "convinced" that things will work out, but that doesn't change the fact that the start of the season could be difficult for them.

At Sky Deutschland Schumacher says: "Mercedes is definitely struggling with an aerodynamic problem. The car is not reacting as expected." And that's mainly in the rear end, because there are some rule changes to that regarding the underside and the diffuser. Red Bull Racing has simply done a better job there.

"You can see from the problems Lewis Hamilton had that the car is not responding the way you are used to and expect. If it's a concept issue, the question is: where does it start? Maybe it's also the new design of the tyres, which doesn't help the Mercedes." It is up to Mercedes to rectify this in the short term and that is "so shortly before the start of the season an absolute horror."

On Tuesday, Mercedes will have a filming day in Bahrain and while that might help slightly, such a day is not officially for testing. Schumacher therefore expects a struggling Mercedes at the start of the season. Or to end with his words, "I would go so far as to say that Mercedes will not have it easy in Bahrain."