SHOCKING! Mercedes director given an ultimatum to improve car performance: Report

In what appears to be a shocking turn of events, Mercedes technical director Mike Elliot has reportedly been given an ultimatum to improve car performance. The German team's season was off to a poor start in Bahrain as the car turned out to be the fourth-fastest car on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton dragged the Mercedes to a fifth-place finish in the race with teammate George Russell finishing seventh. After the race, Toto Wolff stated that the team would take drastic steps to get back to winning ways.

It appears the first result of the season have resulted in an ultimatum being issued to the team's technical director Mike Elliot. As per formu1a.uno, Elliot has been given the responsibility of improving the team's fortunes. The report states:

"The pressure at Mercedes was already high, as we have reported in recent weeks. However, the pressure has increased on the team’s technical director Mike Elliott. After the race, upon returning to Brackley, there was a long meeting held at Mercedes that lasted until late at night."

"The climate at the Mercedes camp is shaped by an ultimatum to the team’s technical director – who is tasked with reviving the project in progress."

"Everything is bad" - Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after Bahrain Grand Prix

Talking to the media after a disappointing showing in the race, Toto Wolff revealed the gravity of the situation as he admitted the gap on Red Bull had doubled or tripled.

When questioned on how the team would tackle this situation, Wolff said,

"That’s a good question and we will tackle it straight at the beginning of the week. When you look at where we were at the end of the season, where it seemed like we caught up a lot and it was just a matter of which circuits suited us and which not. I think we’ve almost doubled, if not tripled [the deficit], to get to Red Bull. This is what we need to look at."

He added,

“Everything in between, the Ferraris, the Astons, that’s just a sideshow. Everything is bad. The single-lap pace is still good but in the race, we saw the consequences. And to put it bluntly, we are lacking downforce and sliding the tires and going backwards.”

It's hard to understand the knee-jerk reaction from the team and whether such ultimatums ever work. These reports, however, are a reflection of the situation the German team finds itself in right now.