Mercedes confident of testing recovery without "more stumbling blocks"

Valtteri Bottas in pre-season testing in Bahrain — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes

Mercedes confident of testing recovery without "more stumbling blocks"

Bottas missed nearly all of morning session after gearbox change

Ian Parkes

Friday 12 March 2021 14:10

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Toto Wolff is confident Mercedes can recover from its disastrous start to pre-season testing that saw Valtteri Bottas confined to the garage for the entire opening session.

After completing an installation lap at the Bahrain International Circuit, Bottas failed to return after sustaining what Mercedes stated was a gearshift issue, necessitating a gearbox change.

It resulted in the Finn being confined to the garage for over three hours, and only managing a further five laps, with a time 4.647secs adrift of McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo who topped the timesheet from the 10 that took to the track.

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With only three days of pre-season testing this year, to lose half-a-day with the New W12 represents a major headache for the reigning champions.

Assessing the morning, Wolff said: "We weren't very fast this morning because we only did one lap, with an aero rake.

"It wasn't a good start because we had a gearbox issue that came out of nowhere we haven't yet been able to identify and understand.

"If we are able to have a smoother ride from here onwards then I think we can recover. If we have more stumbling blocks then with three days there is not a lot we can do."

From McLaren's perspective, team principal Andreas Seidl could not have been happier as new driver Ricciardo led the way with a time of one minute 32.003secs on Pirelli's hard compound tyres, followed closely by AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly and Max Verstappen in his Red Bull.

Seidl said: "It was a decent morning for us. We could complete our programme as planned, which is always important going into the first test day.

"For us, in particular, very important this year only having three test days after switching to the Mercedes power unit, very important to have smooth running, which we had. Everything is working as expected at the moment.

"For Daniel, it's the first taste of a McLaren, first time, let's say, using the car in anger, to work with his crew in these conditions. So far so good."

Reigning seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton took over the car in the afternoon.