Pierre Gasly says he witnessed up close in testing in Bahrain Lewis Hamilton's struggles onboard Mercedes new car and agrees the Brackley squad has some work to do.
Mercedes appears to be heading into next weekend's opening round of the 2022 F1 World Championship somewhat on the back foot after its new W13 displayed in Sakhir clear handling deficiencies, such as wild understeer, not to mention its chronic porpoising issue.
Both Hamilton and teammate George Russell have been vocal about the quirks impacting Mercedes Silver Arrow.
But rivals have played down the German outfit's plaints, pointing out that it also struggled in testing last year but still won the opening race.
However, having had the opportunity to closely follow Hamilton on track at one point in Bahrain, Gasly believes the team's struggles are real.
"I was quite surprised to be fighting with Lewis for a couple of laps," said the Frenchman.
"We know, on our side, we’ve got quite a lot of work to do to improve the performance, to improve the car balance.
"Clearly I could see Lewis was struggling as well and I think they do have some work to be fighting right at the top.
"But it’s only testing, it’s part of the test and exploring how to get the best out of the car."
Gasly's brief scrap with the seven-time world champion also offered him an opportunity to gauge his ability to follow a rival car more closely, the main objective targeted by this year's wholesale regulation changes.
"In terms of racing, it was clearly an interesting few laps," said the AlphaTauri charger.
"It was interesting also to follow and just to get some data and feeling following other cars.
"I think it's clearly better than last year, which makes me quite optimistic in terms of racing for the season."
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