“It’s a long, long way to go but I love a challenge” – Lewis Hamilton

It was not the usual Qualifying dominance that the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team have become so used to over recent years, after Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth and George Russell ninth at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Considering where they were at the end of Friday, ending qualifying just over six tenths behind pole-sitter Charles Leclerc is actually a very good result for Mercedes and for Hamilton. The Seven-Time World Champion made it clear to the media plenty of times that the Silver Arrows were behind, understandably no-one believed him. Qualifying proved though that Mercedes are in fact the third fastest team as it stands, so starting the first race of the year from fifth is a positive start to the season for Hamilton.

The British driver is known for his ‘never give up’ attitude, something which will benefit him in what looks to be a difficult start to the season for Mercedes. Hamilton is very proud of what his team have achieved in regards to closing the gap to the frontrunners, the British driver is also more than ready for the challenge ahead.

“The session was tough but I’m really proud of what we’ve managed to do, given the issues we’ve had the past week. Those guys ahead of us are on another level at the moment but there’s a lot to play for tomorrow at the start and with strategy so I hope I can at least stay with them and stay in the fight. We’re not quick enough to win but I told you that before the weekend.

“It was looking like we were further behind last week, we’ve made some improvements and we’re closer, so I’m proud of what we’ve achieved and where we’ve got to. I hope we’ll make another step next week and bit by bit, we’ll hunt those guys down. The improvements come from our collective efforts, we’re working as hard as we can and I know it’s a long, long way to go but I love a challenge.”

“We’re here to fight for podiums and victories, not to settle for P5 and P6” – George Russell

It certainly wasn’t the first qualifying with Mercedes that George Russell would’ve been expecting! The young British driver struggled during Qualifying 3, lapping a whole second slower than he did in Qualifying 2. As a result it’s a disappointing ninth place start for the new Mercedes driver.

In Russell’s defence it was his turn this weekend to give his team-mate the slipstream, the British driver ran too deep at the very start of his final lap, ruining any hope of improving on his previous best. Russell just like Hamilton, has been brutally honest to the media about Mercedes not having the pace, he too though knows that the team will eventually figure it out and be back where they belong.

“Today wasn’t ideal for me, I went one second slower in Q3 than I did in Q2; with only one set of fresh tyres for Q3, I tried something different on my out-lap and it didn’t work. I’m glad I tried something because we want to be fighting Ferrari and Red Bull. We had one shot, maybe it was too risky but we’re here to fight for podiums and victories, not to settle for P5 and P6. The pace of our car is definitely behind Ferrari and Red Bull, and ahead of the rest of the midfield, so my target for tomorrow is to get ahead of that group.

“We’re trying absolutely everything at the moment to solve our global issues with the car. We all knew with the regulation change that anything could happen, the only promising thing is we have major issues and we’re still the third-fastest team. If we were in this position and everything felt great, then we’d be a little bit puzzled. It race day tomorrow and I’ll be giving it my all.”