The wait is finally over for the entire F1 fan community that is currently anticipating the upcoming season’s actions with bated breath. It is only a matter of a few days before the Formula 1 circus travels to Bahrain for a grand season opener in the middle eastern country. Already, the test sessions have been going on and the fans have gotten some idea of how the next few months are going to look for most teams–and Mercedes do not seem to be off to a flying start.

During the first day of test sessions in Bahrain, Max Verstappen‘s RB20, which was being rumored to have been built on a similar model as the Mercedes W14 of last year, impressed everyone. The Dutchman himself sounded quite positive as he claimed the racecar was quite ‘comfortable’ for him. And this gave his opponents, such as Fernando Alonso, a premonition that Max would be winning the majority of the Grands Prix this year too just like he did in 2023.

But after spending two entire seasons with below-par performances and unsurprising results, Mercedes were rumored to take a new approach to try and get back to their winning ways. They debuted a curious pair of front wings that caught everyone’s attention too. However, the team has not managed to top any of the practice sessions in Bahrain and still seem to be behind Red Bull and Ferrari. Thus, Ralf Schumacher expressed his disappointment with the German manufacturers.

I'm a bit disappointed with Mercedes. I have the feeling that things will continue like last year.

Ralf Schumacher said to SkySports Germany.

Related: Motorsport columnist Matt Bishop recounts old Lewis Hamilton conversation from 9 years ago where he spoke of Ferrari move [/related_content]

Ralf Schumacher brands Mercedes’ fall from grace as the reason Lewis Hamilton will seek an out in 2025

Once the upcoming season is over, Lewis Hamilton will hang up his boots and leave the Brackley garage of Mercedes to shift to Scuderia Ferrari. His newly-signed contract has been the talk of the town ever since the reports were revealed which claimed that Mercedes will love Hamilton after a 12 year long partnership.

Naturally, everyone has been going on about the true reason that motivated Lewis Hamilton to join Ferrari. While some have argued it is a big sum of money that the Scuderia offered Lewis, others claimed it is because Mercedes were not ready to give the 39-year-old a multi-year contract. And Ralf Schumacher believes it is because of Mercedes’ lack of promising performance.

That [lack of pace] could also be a reason why Lewis Hamilton lost faith in it and followed Fred Vasseur's call [to join Ferrari].

Ralf Schumacher said, via SkySports Germany.

In other news, Lewis Hamilton revealed, in his personal statement which was released after the news of his Ferrari transfer came out, that he has always dreamt of racing for the legacy team from Maranello. As the Briton will be entering a new phase of his journey with Ferrari quite soon, it is only to be seen if he does get an eighth World Championship title with Ferrari.

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