Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes is still trying to find a “sweet spot” with its 2021 car after setbacks on both days of pre-season testing left it making up for lost time.
Mercedes was put on the back foot when it suffered a gearbox issue on Friday morning and struggled in low-grip conditions in the afternoon session.
It left the Brackley-based outfit bottom of the lap charts having failed to record a full race distance, with the team conceding it was “quite a way behind” its testing programme.
But Mercedes recovered from its limited running on Saturday as Valtteri Bottas ended day two top of the leaderboard having completed 58 laps.
Hamilton ran in the morning and also racked up 58 laps, but brought out a red flag after a spin at Turn 13 saw him spin into the gravel.
While figures show Mercedes has recorded it lowest milage on the first two days of pre-season testing since 2014, Hamilton remained calm over its troubled start.
Speaking prior to Bottas’ run in the W12, Hamilton said: “It’s day two of testing, we’re just focused on doing our job, so nowhere near at the moment.
“I think we’re just focusing on trying to understand the car. There’s no point in getting worried just yet.
“Everyone is focusing on their programmes, and that is what we’re doing.”
Hamilton explained how the windy conditions played a part in his spin at Turn 13, as he continues to try and get on top of this year’s Mercedes.
“Today the wind I think did a 180, so the track is a lot different today,” Hamilton said. “Some places you can push where you couldn’t yesterday, and it’s very gusty, as I found out into Turn 13.
“So the rear doesn’t feel particularly great with this new regulation change, but we’re trying to find the sweet spot.”
Hamilton and Bottas will both be in the car on the final day of testing, as Mercedes aims to iron out its setbacks before the first race in Bahrain in two weeks time.
Asked if testing had been useful for Mercedes to find areas to improve on its 2021 challenger, Hamilton replied: “Compared to the past, it’s not been particularly useful.
“We’ve done what, 60 laps? Something like that. And Valtteri I think is about to go and do his first laps, so it’s not a lot compared to other test days we’d normally have, but we’re trying to be as efficient as we can be.
“We have less mileage than some of the others, like the Red Bulls, so far. We’re just trying to stick to our programme and manage the amount of laps that we have also, and try to be as efficient as we can.”
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