"We're just crashing into the floor" - F1 drivers of Mercedes-engined cars talk about Ferrari power unit's dominance in Bahrain GP

George Russell doesn’t believe the struggles faced by Mercedes powered teams is solely due to the power unit. While he conceded that the German manufacturer had a lot of room for improvement, he felt that teams were struggling more due to aerodynamic issues rather than from a lack of power.

Speaking ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver said:

“I think there's always room to improve, but the Williams was one of the fastest cars in a straightline [in Bahrain]. So, I think there's a number of reasons why we were struggling. We had more wing on compared to the Red Bull and the Ferrari."

Russell’s feels Mercedes’ struggles in the straight-line are mainly due to proposing, which has forced the team to run the car much higher from the ground, necessitating a larger rear wing. He added:

“I think the part was in issues aren't helping things over because we're just crashing into the floor, as opposed to skating along the top of a surface. So, we'll have to wait and see but I don't think it's necessarily purely down to the power unit.”

Williams’ Alex Albon and McLaren’s Lando Norris largely agreed with Russell’s comments and felt that they had bigger aerodynamic issues with their respective cars that needed fixing before they could even focus on the power unit. Norris said:

“Mercedes our main guys to compare to from our Mercedes point of view, and they're a long way down the road from us. So, before we would ever start to complain about engine or anything, we need a much better car first.”

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“Others have made a step up” – Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes' straight-line speed woes

Lewis Hamilton believes other manufacturers have made a bigger step compared to his team in 2022 with their power units rather than the German manufacturer struggling for power. The Briton also feels that some of the other issues faced by his team could be masking the true potential of the power unit.

Speaking at a media session after his first Q1 elimination since 2017, he said:

“The engine was fine in the session. I think it's clear that the others have caught up, but we don't know how much of that is down to drag, and much of is due to [lack of] power.”

Cars powered by the German manufacturer were easily the slowest among the grid across Bahrain and throughout practice and qualifying in Saudi Arabia. All five cars eliminated in Q2 at Jedda were powered by the German manufacturer.

Meanwhile, Ferrari seem to have taken a major step in performance compared to last year. All six Ferrari-powered cars on the grid have been some of the fastest cars across the Saudi Arabian GP weekend so far.

The contrast in straight-line speed between Mercedes and Ferrari was best illustrated in the final part of qualifying in Jedda, when George Russell lost nearly half-a-second to Carlos Sainz in the final sector alone, despite being on par with the Spaniard until then.