Mercedes reveals one major reason behind the return of porpoising at Spa

Mercedes finish their first half of the season 256 points behind Red Bull in the Constructors Standings.

Mercedes reveals one major reason behind the return of porpoising at Spa

Mercedes' W14 (Credits: Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)

Mercedes had a frustrating weekend in Belgium. Lewis Hamilton missed out on the podium again by one place, despite starting P3, while his teammate George Russell finished P6. Mercedes’ W14 has not been able to show the same pace as in the Hungarian GP’s qualifying. Mercedes CTO Mike Elliott believes that porpoising in Spa was one of the reasons for Mercedes’ below-expected results.

When asked about the reasons for the bouncing of their car, Elliott said that he himself was not sure. Due to rain affecting the only practice session of the weekend, they were not able to study the car’s performance well. While he is more inclined towards believing that porpoising happened due to the track, the W14’s upgrades are also a possible reason for its bouncing to take place.

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“The question we need to ask ourselves is, how much of it is just the circuit we were in, and how much is to be found in set up because obviously it was a wet race weekend. We will also take a really good look at the upgrade kit and make sure we’ve not introduced bouncing with that. But at the moment our belief is it’s probably a result of set up or the circuit itself,” Elliott said.

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Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (Credits: The Independent)

Mercedes’ disappointing first half of the season they ended with Hamilton on P4 and George Russell on P6 in Belgium. While they are second in the constructor’s standings, they are still 256 points behind first-place Red Bull. As the summer break began, Hamilton talked about Mercedes’ plans going ahead.

Hamilton and Russell addressed the fans by appreciating their support for the team. Hamilton, in his statement, told the fans to be ready as Mercedes will be ‘pushing like crazy’ after the break.

“Yeah guys just want to say a big thank you for the support at all these races. We look forward to seeing some of you in the second half of the season. We will be pushing like crazy in the second half, so be ready,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton is currently fourth in the driver standings, with just one point separating him and third place Fernando Alonso. Hamilton’s teammate George Russell stands in sixth position, equal in points with fifth place Charles Leclerc.

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