Lewis Hamilton, who won the Bahrain Grand Prix by an overwhelming 22 seconds over Red Bull 1-2, is concerned that the RB20 is no match for him, especially in the hands of Max Verstappen.
A difference of just 0.2 seconds in qualifying for the season opener gave rivals hope that Red Bull might not have been as good as expected.
Lewis Hamilton worries about Red Bull's pace
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Verstappen narrowly avoided a single pass from Charles Leclerc on the opening lap of the Sakhir circuit and won by 22 seconds over teammate Sergio Perez.
The closest non-Red Bull driver was Carlos Sainz, who was 25 seconds off the pace.
Given that Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix last season by a narrow 12-second margin, at least by Saturday standards, Hamilton fears the Milton Keynes team will be winning 'everything' for a while. There is.
“I feel good and I'm not depressed,” he told media such as PlanetF1.com. “I think it was a very average race.
“And I think once you go back and see what Red Bull looks like this time around, it's going to be even higher. You know, they're going to win everything for a while.”
Teammate George Russell agreed, saying, “Max is my favorite. I don't think anyone will fight him for the championship this year, but there will be guys here and there who will fight for wins.'' I hope it comes.”
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Lewis Hamilton backs Mercedes to close gap
Russell finished the Grand Prix in fifth place, while Hamilton had battery problems that prevented him from recharging, sending his W15 home in seventh place.
But there were words of encouragement from the seven-time world champion, who believes Mercedes are in a better position than last year.
“My feeling is that over the last few years we've had all these problems and we've spent a few races trying to iron out all of those problems and figure out what those problems were, but… “Now we have a platform to start,” he added.
“So now it's a building process from here, and I think we're a good team to do that.”
As for where Mercedes are in the standings, he said: “It's too early to say. I think today's set-up wasn't ideal and we're very close to McLaren.
“But if I had qualified better, I probably would have easily finished fifth today even with the problems. So even with that, I might not have been too far behind Ferrari. No, but we are still the third fastest.”
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