That is how George Russell summed up Mercedes’ performance on the opening day of running at the start of Formula 1’𒐪s new era in Bahrain. 

Few believed Mercedes’ claims that it was on the back foot after pre-season, but based on Friday’s two practice sessions at the Bahrain International Circuit, it appears the reigning world champions are genuinely𒁏 strugg🌊ling. 

Rus꧂sell ended the day fourth-quickest but was over half a second down on Max Verstappen on the same tyre 🔥compound. 

“It’s clear it’s all abo🍰ut lap time and we are certainly not where we want to be,” he said. “I think we made a bit of progress solving some issues but the pace is just not there at the moment. 

“So we need to really꧟ go over the data tonight to 🐬really understand why we’re both struggling with the car.” 

Mercedes not only appeꩵars to be lagging behind its rivals over one lap, but its long run pace in FP2 will be of equ🐻al concern. 

Over a similar race simulation run, Me🍒rcedes was around a second slower compared to Red Bull, though exact fuel loads and engine settings are unknown. 

“I think the high fuel pace is a bit more representative and we were consistently oveꦯr a second slower than where our rivals are,” Russell added. 

“I need to look into the data a bit further. Maybe there’s a reas𒁃on for it but from our side, we’re definitely not overly happy with the car right now and we’ve got s𒈔ome work to do. But if anyone can, our team can, so let’s see.” 

Why is Mercedes struggling? 

Mercedes’ 2022 challenger looks a handful to drive a💞nd is suffering from more extreme porpoising on the straight compared to other teams. 

The excessive high-🔯frequency bouncing and balance issues are concealing the fundamental baseline pace 🐎Mercedes believes it has in the W13. 

The porpoising 🎐phenomenon stems from the return of ground effect philosophy that has been adopted for F1’s new generation of cars as part of the biggest overhaul to the techn🙈ical regulations in decades. 

“Because the ground effect on these cars is such a powerful thing, the car is wanting t🅺o suck itself to the road a bit like a magnet,” Mercedes tr🤪ackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained. 

“Obviously when you🍌 get there it💎’s bouncing up and it’s being driven by that effect. That’s why when you lift the ride height or you stop chopping away the floor, and you start affecting that ceiling, you can improve it, but you’re improving it at the expense of performance. 

“Where are we at the moment? I don’t think we’ve got as good a handle on that as some of the 💟other teams and I think the pace you are seeing at the moment is very much dominated by how well people have got on top of that problem - maybe more than the base performance of the car in🅺 the wind tunnel.” 

Mercedes ran two different floor configurations on Lewis Hamilton and Russell’s floors during practice in a bid to get on top of its porpoisi𝓡ng problemsꦓ, but as yet, the team is yet to find a solution. 

Addingඣ to Mercedes’ headache, the new u꧒pgrade package that was introduced at the second Bahrain test - which features a radical sidepod design - is not delivering as expected. 

“We are truly throwing everything at it at the moment to try and unlock the potential that we think is there, but 🐎we’re just really struggling to tap into it at the minute,” Russell conceded. 

💎“Everything we try is maybe one step forward and two steps back and there’s always a limitation. It’s going to take time, we hoped we would have solved it but how things stand at the moment, we aren’t in the fight and we’ve got some work to do.” 

How long will it take to solve? 

Hamilton, who encountered problems with his front brakes and his DRS (Drag Reduction Sy🎃stem), could only manage a lap good enough for ninth, 1.2s adrift o🎶f Verstappen and sandwiched between the two Haas cars. 

The seven-time world champion had already warned after testing that Mercedes would not be in a position༺ to fight for victories at the startꦚ of the season, a statement that seemed an unthinkable prospect given Mercedes’ form in recent years. 

After Friday practice, Hamilton reiterated that Mercedes is facing “much bigger problems” than before last year’s Bahrain Granไd P🧸rix, where it bounced back to win despite enduring a similarly tricky pre-season test. 

Hamilton conceded there will 𝓰be no quick fix to resolve the issues Mercedes is currently facing and ruled out the prospect of winning this weekend. 

“We had smaller problems in the past, relatively, compared to this year,” he said. “We are faced with 🔥mu𝄹ch much bigger problems this year and everything we do to try and fix it doesn't really change that. 

“It appears th𝓡ere's probably going to be a longer-term fix, so nothing in the short term.

"We’re a long way off. We’re not bluf♕fing like people assume we were. It is what it is. We’ll work as hard as we🎉 can through it and do what we can.

“We’re not going to be i🎃n the race for the win here,” H﷽amilton added. “Red Bull is a long, long way ahead. It’s in the region of eight-to-ninth tenths ahead of us and Ferrari is probably something like half a second, six tenths ahead of us. 

“So we’re fighting and scrappin🐈g with whoever is behind the﷽m.”