‘A bit of a reality check’ – Russell feels Mercedes have ‘taken a step back’ between Barcelona Shakedown and first Bahrain test

George Russell has described this week’s pre-season test in Bahrain as “a bit of a reality check” for Mercedes, believing that the team have “taken a step back” in terms of reliability and performance since the Barcelona Shakedown.

Mercedes enjoyed a smooth run with their all-new W17 at the Spanish venue, as Russell and team mate Kimi Antonelli racked up plenty of laps and Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin declared that they “pretty much ticked all of the boxes” on their list.

When the F1 paddock regrouped in the Sakhir desert, however, the Silver Arrows were quick to shift the attention away from themselves and instead talked up the competition – in particular Red Bull, who have hit the ground running with their own power unit.

Alongside that, Mercedes encountered the first gremlins of their pre-season, with respective suspension and power unit issues limiting Antonelli’s mileage on Wednesday and Thursday.

Asked for his take on the competitive order in these early stages of 2026, Russell commented: “I do think this test has been a bit of a reality check for all of us. Firstly, a huge amount of chat regarding Mercedes and our power unit in the winter – all of it just speculation, because nobody knows anything at that point.

“The truth is, Red Bull in Barcelona, day one, hit the ground running, were well ahead of all of their competitors – ourselves, Ferrari and the others. Day one here in Bahrain, again, they sort knocked it out of the park. At the moment, they’re very much the team to beat.

“It’s quite straightforward when you have three days of testing in the same locations to make those improvements, but when you get to [the first round in] Melbourne and you’ve got three practice sessions, three hours of practice before Qualifying, based on what we’ve seen in Barcelona and Bahrain, Red Bull are going to be ahead, so we’ve got work to do.”

Russell added: “Barcelona was very smooth, and probably smoother than we actually anticipated, in terms of reliability, in terms of performance. We’ve got to Bahrain and in both regards we’ve taken a step back.”

Russell is hopeful, though, that Mercedes will be able to make solid gains, and gradually get on top of their package, over the course of the second pre-season test week.

“For sure, this is what testing’s all about,” he said. “I think we probably all expected to see a bit more of this [issues], especially in Barcelona, but it’s still very early days. We’ve got another test, a month until Melbourne.

“We’re obviously very focused on the performance, but you’ve also got to finish the race if you want to fight for the result. Being a driver, you’re always focused on the performance, and a number of the team members are really focused on reliability and working hard on that.”

Russell was speaking to the media after topping Friday morning’s session at the Bahrain International Circuit, with Antonelli taking over for the afternoon running.