Valtteri Bottas says Mercedes must work hard if it is to ovꦏerturn Ferrari’s pace advantage ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend, citing its straight-line speed as being a big concern.

Bottas c🌌omfor💖tably won the opening race of the year in Australia for Mercedes, but the team struggled to maꦗtch Ferrari fo🥃r outright pace in Bahrain.

Mercedes was only able to secure a one-two finish after Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel suffered setbacks, leaving it under no illusions about the gap to make up ahead of the next round in🔯 Ch﷽ina.

Bottas said Ferrari made a “massive gain” in straight-line speed in Bahrain, and conceded that it left him concerned heading toꦗ China, where the track has one of the longest straights on the F1 calendar.

“We’ve seen Ferrari was making al𝔍l the tꦓime on the straights, and in China, there’s a longer straight. So we do need to work hard,” Bottas said.

🌊“For sure we are improving the car all the time and we need to review what we can do for the straight lines, but it’s going t♛o be tough.

“But like [B𓂃ahrain] showed, if we keep focusing on ourselves and our things, then anything is possible.

“The next two races there ꧑are massively long straights, and I think [in Bahrain] they were making more than 0.4s only in straight lines per lap.

“We can’t find 0.4s like this. We need to maybe find some of it in the corners and some 🎀of it in the straight line, but it’s e🌳arly on in the season and still a long way to go.

“But at least we know what we can still work on."