Lewis Hamilton and co. continue to struggle as Nico Rosberg predicts difficult spell ahead for Mercedes - "The whole car is in a river" 

Lewis Hamilton endured a tough season-opener, finishing the race in fifth position while teammate George Russell managed a seventh-place finish. Mercedes were hopeful their 2023 challenger would change their fortunes, but after the first race, the team found itself in a familiar position.

Ex-Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg feels that the German team is in an 'extremely difficult situation'. Rosberg believes the team will rethink its design philosophy after failing to extract performance with its radical side pod design.

The 2016 world champion said:

"Toto Wolff said that this concept won't go any further – that's a big statement. You have to take a step back this year and then start with the new concept already preparing for the new year."

He added:

"I don't want to be in those shoes. The problem is you can't just put new side pods on it and then it works. The whole car is in a river. The whole car has to change."

Before the qualifying session, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff admitted that the package wouldn't be competitive eventually. The Austrian said that the team will hit the drawing board after the race.

With the F1 budget cap limiting the team's expenditure, the Silver Arrows won't be able to adopt a new design this year. Even if the team decides to change the fundamental design of the car, then they will find themselves on the back foot entering next season.

Rosberg added about the team's critical situation:

"They were 50 seconds behind Verstappen, who didn't give everything. That would otherwise have been 60 seconds – one second per lap. That's hard. They have to find the miracle weapon and make great progress quickly, but they don't really understand it themselves and that's the difficult part."

The season-opener result will hurt Lewis Hamilton and co. even more as Fernando Alonso drove his Mercedes-powered Aston Martin to a podium finish.

As the alarm bells at Brackley have already started ringing, the team must take a quick step up to challenge its rivals.

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"Mercedes going backwards" laments Lewis Hamilton

After an underwhelming performance in the season opener, Lewis Hamilton said that the team has taken a step backward in the 2023 season.

Mercedes finished the 2022 season by matching Ferrari on pace and on several occasions beating them. However, the German outfit seems to have dropped the ball as they are currently the fourth-fastest team.

Lewis Hamilton openly admitted to the team's lack of direction, stating:

"We definitely can’t fight them at the moment – [Red Bull] were much quicker than us, as were the Astons."

"We’re the fourth fastest team now, as opposed to the third last year. We’re going backwards, [so] we really have a lot of work to do to close that gap."

With F1 returning to the Middle East in less than a fortnight, the team will be banking on quick fixes to improve performance.