Sergio Perez claims he was ‘laughing’ at people who thought Red Bull were one second per lap quicker than their F1 rivals after pre-season testing.
The reigning constructors’ champions were bettered by Mercedes during second practice in Bahrain on Thursday, which comes as no great surprise to Perez.
“We had a lot of people talking that we were a second ahead, I was just laughing at them because I know things are a lot closer,” said the Mexican.
“They [other teams] are looking very competitive and it’s going to be a very tight battle [during qualifying
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Lewis Hamilton issues concerning Mercedes update
Lewis Hamilton believes that Mercedes’ long-run pace is ‘nowhere near’ that of rivals Red Bull.
The legendary Brit urged for caution on Thursday after a Silver Arrows one-two finish in FP2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix had the paddock dreaming of a blockbuster battle come race day.
“FP1, we were surprised,” he told Sky Sports F1. “It was very very windy this morning, so it was a really difficult session I think for everyone.
“The track was so different compared to last week. It was feeling okay, but we didn’t really know where we stood on the C2 tyre and then in this session [FP2], yeah, the car, we made some improvements over the session.
“It’s a shock to see us where we are, we’ll take it for now, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We need to keep our heads down, keep working on the setup to try and extract more. I think our long-run pace is nowhere near the Red Bulls for example and I think we were a lot closer, so we’ve got some work to do there.”
George Russell baffled by Mercedes pace
George Russell claims the team need to go away and try to understand exactly why they were so fast in second practice on Thursday.
Mercedes duo Russell and Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets, despite trailing behind Ferrari and Red Bull during pre-season testing.
“We’re not going to get carried away,” Russell told Sky Sports. “The qualifying pace looked really strong. We still need to try and understand why it was so good.
“We made some changes from the [pre-season] test and it exceeded our expectations. But ultimately the long-run pace is where it all happens, we were very close with Fernando [Alonso], Lando [Norris] and the Ferraris.”
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