Mercedes’ W14 featured fairly lowly in the speed traps througho🧸ut the three days of testing in Bahrain, with Red Bull’s RB19 and Ferrari’s SF-23 leading t๊he way.

The German manufacturer placed at the🅺 very bottom of the collective top speed charts, according to ’s data.&nbs๊p;

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Seven-time worꦅld champion Hamilton admitted Mercedes “do have some pace to pick up in a straight line” as he summarised the team’s position heading into the new campaign. 

But speaking to Sky Sports F1’s Ted꧒ Kravitz on the final day of pre-season testing, Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott appeared to offer an explanation for the team’s l𝓡owly ranking. 

Elliott said Mercedes’ apparent lack of straightline speed was not down to an eng🐬ine or inherent drag issue, but instead related to the size of the rear wing attached to the W14. 

Mercedes opted to run a large double spoon rear wing for be𒉰tter correlation and data collection, while rivals Red Bull and Ferrari fixe꧑d medium load wings to their cars. 

“We were probably not wearing the wing we wea❀r w🌱hen we come racing,” Elliott revealed.  

Elliott confirmed Merced🦋es were purposely maintaining constant downforce levels throughout the test in order to get a greater handle on their new challenger. 

“We’ve develop🤡ed the car’s [aerodynamic] efficiency quite a lot over the winter,” he explained. “Where we choose to run the race is about how we think is the best way to run th𓆏e race. 

“Obvi👍ously in testing, it’s just about trying to understand and so we’ve not done any work moving up and down in terms of downforce level. 

“We’ve kept it constant and tried to get all the data we can from the car to𝓀 understand as much as we can and the issues we may face, and just build from there.”