After being the hot topic on Thursday morning in Bahrain, Mercedes has had a somewhat unspectacular Bahrain test, in which their car looked more on edge, with a myriad of lock-ups, oversteery moments and bouncing on the straights due to the ‘porpoising’ effect.

The results of the two days show Mercedes down the order – the team’s best result over the first two days is a P4 finish with Hamilton on Friday. With the huge expectations and intrigue surrounding their new, radical, upgrade package, could the team’s problems be related to the new design?

According to Lewis Hamilton, there is no direct relation between the problems and the upgrades on the W13. He explained how the windy conditions in Sakhir and a continuing issue of porpoising – the car bouncing along the straights when at high speed - are making life difficult not only for the Brackley squad, but for other teams up and down the grid as well:

"It's the wind, it is the bouncing that we have. We still have (porpoising) this week, and if anything, it's worse. So we're just working through lots of different scenarios, trying to figure out how to hold on to the downforce and not have it bouncing as it was in the last test.

"I think everyone's probably in a similar boat. Some have managed to utilise or get around it in a better way.

"But it's difficult out there. It's bumpy, it's slippery. It's sand in the morning. In the morning, it's way too hot. And in the afternoon, it's just gusty.

"It’s tough. I mean, you can see on the on-board, tank-slappers left, right and centre. You're bouncing and bumping and it's not quite happy at the moment. But we're trying to tame her."

Hamilton praised the work done by his Mercedes team to get such a big upgrade package in the car after the first test in Barcelona, and is confident the team can get on top of the porpoising issues that are holding back its progress towards a better balance:

“The car definitely is different to last week, but I think it’s more so the tyres, working with these temperatures, that are different here. It’s a different machine this weekend, but I don’t think it’s (because of) the change we’ve made.

“So much great work has gone into creating this upgrade. It's just hurdles that we're coming across with this new kind of car that everyone's facing in 2022," he said.

"I'm confident in the team here and back at the factory, that they will figure it out. But it's definitely not going to be a smooth run."

Hamilton dismissed comments from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who suggested Mercedes is intentionally holding its pace back in testing. The Briton said his team would have to be “really, really good” in acting if it was having all these problems just to hide its true pace:

"We would be really, really, really good if we were having all these oversteer moments and having this tacky driving, just to hide our (pace). It's not the case. We definitely have things that we're trying to get through.

"I think, as I said, others are struggling less but who knows? Maybe when we get to next week, we'll have a better understanding."

The seven-times champion also suggested the Maranello squad is in good shape in these early stages, stating how he thinks they would be on top if the race was held this week:

“I think Ferrari - from what I can see – Ferrari would probably get a 1-2, or maybe Red Bull, who knows?”

Formula One has just one more day of pre-season testing, on Saturday, before the action kicks off next week for the season opening Bahrain GP, on March 18-20. All coverage, in-depth analysis and news from testing and the first race of the season can be found on MotorLAT.