"There is huge amount of energy": Mercedes director assures the 'attitude' inside the team remains positive

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott has assured the team remains positive in the face of the adversity they have endured this season. Mercedes are off to their worst start of an F1 season in the hybrid era as they are yet to score a podium after two races. Team boss Toto Wolff has publicly branded the zero-sidepod concept a failure and called for a change in strategy.

Having said that, the team had a much more impressive showing during the season's second race in Saudi Arabia, where the car was far more competitive. If it wasn't for the rescinded penalty for Fernando Alonso, George Russell would have scored a podium for the team. While there's still a long way to go until the Silver Arrows start fighting for wins, Mike Elliott claimed that the team has a positive outlook and are energized to get back to the front. He said:

"Obviously, Bahrain was a real reality check and to find ourselves in the position we find ourselves in, not being competitive, was a real disappointment. A disappointment for the whole team. But you have to get yourself through that and you have to turn that into what we are going to do about it? How are we going to bring the sort of the energy and what we are capable of doing?"

Elliott added:

"And actually, walking around the factory there is huge amount of energy, there is a huge amount of work going on, we are starting to see some of the development come through already that is going to get us back into this championship fight. And all we can do is just keep pushing and actually, I've been really pleased to see the attitude in the team."

The direct competitor is very far away: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff was not willing to look at the positives after a competitive weekend for Mercedes in Jeddah. The Mercedes boss said that Red Bull were still too far away and it would take a lot of effort before the German squad could compete for wins. He said:

"The direct competitor (Red Bull) is very far away, that’s not something that is going to be easy to catch. Today, we have seen directionally that our development is heading the way we want it to go."

The German team is joint-second in the championship after the first two races this season. However, this has primarily been a result of the team having a 100% reliability record in the first two races, while Aston Martin and Ferrari have had one DNF each.