Niki Lauda: “I’m Not Entirely Happy”

Mercedes non-executive chairman and Formula One Legend Niki Lauda concedes that he is not entirely pleased with the way testing has been progressing.

Perhaps it’s the feeling that Mercedes won’t have it as easy this year as they have in the past, or perhaps it’s the perfectionism that got them to the top three years running – whatever the cause is, Niki Lauda isn’t happy with the way that the second round of testing at Barcelona has been going for Mercedes.

Apparently, the team had a lot of updates that they planned to get some juice out of – but it just didn’t pan out. Lauda took to the presses to air some of his grievances earlier today:

“Personally, I’m not entirely happy. We tested a few updates which didn’t work out as we had expected them to. This is why we need to test again, tomorrow, too. We have to make further changes in order to understand how the car moves around the circuit in the fastest way possible. I’m sure we can solve these problems til Melbourne. I think Mercedes is facing a tough year. But we will give our best. I’m optimistic.” – Niki Lauda

Lauda continued to mention that while he may be having some qualms with the way that their hardware testing is progressing, he’s just pleased as punch with how new Mercedes Silver Arrow Valtteri Bottas has performed out on the track so far:

“Valtteri edged closer to Lewis’ qualifying performance. He’s missing only two tenths now. This is good. He still has to evolve in the long runs. However, he drives the Mercedes for the first time. He has to work a lot to learn all these things. This is for sure. Up until now I’m more than happy with him.” – Niki Lauda

Though Lauda was clearly disappointed in the lack of results the team observed with the new hardware, he seems to relish the opportunity for a challenge to Mercedes this year. It seems the racer in him won’t ever die.