Painful conclusion for Mercedes: 'The gap to Red Bull is huge'

The first Formula 1 weekend of the year did not go smoothly for the Mercedes team. Where Lewis Hamilton and George Russell still saw glimmers of hope after qualifying, the W14's race pace disappointed. This is also seen by trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin.

The conclusion Shovlin has to draw from the result in the Bahrain Grand Prix is therefore a painful one. "It was a very difficult Sunday; the gap to Red Bull is huge and we've got Aston Martin and Ferrari ahead of us as well," the 49-year-old Briton stated in a Mercedes press release.

He continued: "Clearly, we have a lot of work ahead and we need to go back and come up with a plan to try and find improvements. We are lacking overall grip and, on a high degradation track like this, there was nothing that the drivers could do to attack."

Still, the German racing team are certainly not giving up. "It's encouraging to see how the team is pulling together and how well the drivers are working together. This is the second season we've started on the back foot though and we're under no illusion that this is not acceptable for our team," Shovlin said.