TOTO WOLFF has revealed Mercedes face a huge dilemma after their slow start to the season.
Red Bull dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday with Max Verstappen securing victory in emphatic fashion.
The result leaves Mercedes with a big question – whether to come up with a new car design or develop their current W14.
Wolff, 51, admitted it is unlikely his team will compete with Red Bull for the F1 championship, which could lead him to scrap the current development plans.
He told Motorsport: “It is extremely difficult to catch up such an advantage, but it is what we have to do. We have no choice.
“I am not sure the budget cap gives you constraints in the position where we are, but we do need to decide which direction we are going in and put all the resources behind it.
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"We are still developing one car. The question is just which car.”
Mercedes could decide to continue working on their current model and Sir Lewis Hamilton has urged them to do exactly that.
The seven-time champion finished fifth in Bahrain, 51 seconds off Verstappen and has urged his team to come up with improvements.
He said: "I am generally happy with the race, it was much better with the qualifying and I am happy with my performance.
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"There's not much more I could have done. Set the car up differently maybe? But overall just lacking performance.
"The team did a great job with the pit stops, just unfortunately, the car is just not there at the moment, we are lacking downforce and we have just got to work really hard to try and add that ASAP.
"Anything that is in the wind tunnel, we need it tomorrow. We need to push massively to close that gap."
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