Mercedes wary of further “stumbling blocks” after disrupted first day of testing

Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff said the team must avoid further “stumbling blocks” in its testing programme after losing most of this morning’s running due to a gearbox problem.

Valtteri Bottas completed just six laps in four hours while his W12 was being repaired. Teams have only three days of testing before the season begins.

“We were out very fast this morning because we only did one lap with an aero rig because we had a gearbox issue that came out of nowhere that we hadn’t yet been ready to identify and understand,” Wolff explained during the break between today’s two four-hour tests.

“If we’re able to have a smoother ride from here onwards then I think we can recover,” he added. “If we have more stumbling blocks, then obviously with three days it’s not.”

Lewis Hamilton took over the W12 in the afternoon, when running was further disrupted by a sandstorm which caused poor visibility.

Wolff expects the three days of running will only give a general sense of the competitive order ahead of the season-opening race at the track in two weeks’ time.

“We will see some kind of vague picture after the three days,” he said. “I think Bahrain is representative but these days are very gusty, the wind conditions change from one day to the other.

“And, of course, we don’t know the fuel loads. There’s quite a difference in performance just missing it by 10 kilograms.

“So [we’ll see the] big picture. But on the first race weekend, in qualifying, we’re going to know. Once the flag drops, bullshit stops.”

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