Mercedes fear Ferrari will be more dominant in China and Azerbaijan

Mercedes

Mercedes fear Ferrari will be more dominant in China and Azerbaijan

But the Silver Arrows say 'anything is possible'.

Matthew Scott

Saturday 6 April 2019 13:47

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Valtteri Bottas delivered a pessimistic view on Mercedes' ability to outpace Ferrari at the next two grands prix in China and Azerbaijan, but says the Silver Arrows' start to the season shows that "anything is possible" and won't rule out further success.

Mercedes have secured one-two finishes at both races so far this year, although their success in Bahrain last time out owed plenty to misfortune and mishaps from Ferrari.

Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc suffered an engine failure a few laps short of what had looked to be a certain win, allowing Bottas and race-winner Lewis Hamilton through, while Sebastian Vettel was not in position to capitalise on his team-mate's poor luck as he had earlier spun while battling Hamilton.

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Ferrari were clearly quicker in Sakhir, however, with their advantage put down to superior straight-line speed, so having the two longest straights on the F1 calendar in the next two races gives Bottas cause for concern.

"We've seen Ferrari was making all the time on the straights, and in China, there's a longer straight, so we do need to work hard," Bottas said.

"The next two races there are massively long straights, and I think [in Bahrain] they were making more than 0.4 seconds only in straight lines per lap.

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"We can't find 0.4 seconds like this. We need to maybe find some of it in the corners and some of it in the straight line, but it's early on in the season and still a long way to go. But at least we know what we can still work on.

"For sure we are improving the car all the time and we need to review what we can do for the straight lines, but it's going to be tough. But like [Bahrain] showed, if we keep focusing on ourselves and our things, then anything is possible."