Red Bull's Helmut Marko says Mercedes look unimpressive ahead of new F1 season

Red Bull‘s Helmut Marko says that he is not that impressed with Mercedes‘ performance ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which takes place in Sakhir this weekend.

The first race of the 2022 Formula 1 season is upon us after a fascinating off-season which has covered topics such as Michael Masi and Lewis Hamilton’s future, all new cars, changes to the FIA’s Race Director structure and, of course, six days of testing in Barcelona and Bahrain.

Indeed, it was in Bahrain on the final day of testing on Saturday that Red Bull threw down a late marker – though it’s hard to say exactly how indicative it is of true pace heading into this weekend – as they finished top of the timesheets with Max Verstappen.

That contrasted with Mercedes’ performance, meanwhile, with them looking a little short of where they need to be in order to be race winners at the start of the new campaign.

And, that said, Marko appears fairly unconcerned about the challenge the Silver Arrows may pose to begin with at least this year.

Speaking after the second period of testing, where Mercedes displayed an innovative approach to their sidepods, Marko said:

“We were looking more at the performance than the sidepod and it wasn’t that impressive,” Marko said to Austrian newspaper Osterreich. 

“What Mercedes has brought looks revolutionary. But what matters is the time. 

“And I say – the main thing is that we’re the fastest again. But I also remember last year, when Mercedes was also behind in the tests.”

Of course, Red Bull may wish to sound a little more cautious as a team than Marko but the Austrian has never been one to particularly hide his thoughts and feelings.

He’s typically straight talking, and he has certainly been so here in playing down the chances of