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Bahrain GP has 'clear indications' for Mercedes F1 development path

Mercedes Formula 1 team technical director James Allison says his outfit has "clear indications" of what development direction it needs to take following the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Although Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas ultimately finished first and second after Charles Leclerc's engine problem, it had trailed Ferrari throughout the weekend.

Allison conceded that Mercedes was fortunate to emerge with a significant points haul and that the team needs to make a step forward.

In the latest Mercedes debrief video, Allison said: "A huge result for us.

"A great relief, therefore, on a weekend where we were not that competitive to come back with such a strong haul of points.

"And also to come back with clear indications of what we need to do, and the directions we need to take to develop our car, so we will not suffer the same sort of problems that we had with it in Bahrain.

"And of course, our aim will be that over the course of the season, we bring enough performance to the car that even when we stumble slightly, we can still be out in front.

"That's the aim of every team. But, it's one that we are determined to deliver on and one that we have been reasonably good at over previous seasons."

Allison also outlined the factors that he felt helped Ferrari hold an edge on Mercedes.

"[Bahrain and Melbourne were] very different tracks with different characteristics, and we right from the outset had a car that was a little bit unhappy.

"Where it had flown in Melbourne, we had a car in Bahrain that was a bit nervous at the rear end, which was a bit hard on its tyres, which was suffering a bit with overheating at the rear.

"All those things meant that we just lose a tenth or two here or there and compared to a Ferrari that seemed to be having in Bahrain the weekend that we had just two weeks earlier in Melbourne.

"It's a really difficult sport to get everything just right and the key thing is when you are having a difficult weekend like we just had, to make sure that you don't give up.

"To make sure that you keep in every session trying to get the car pushed further up the grid, to be able to go quicker and quicker and able to get as much as possible from it."

Allison added that Mercedes' Australian Grand Prix form, where it held a clear advantage over pre-season favourites Ferrari, was a surprise.

"We were immensely strong there and everything seemed to go our way," he said.

"We'd expected a much tougher result in Australia, coming off of winter testing we expected perhaps even to be chasing a Ferrari in front of us.

"But instead we found ourselves flying in every session, in qualifying, in the race and in the free practice, and able to just effortlessly breeze out into the lead and get a really strong result."

Zdroj: autosport.com