Mercedes porpoising is ‘almost’ gone, confirms Lewis Hamilton
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Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes‘ struggles with porpoising since the start of the season are widely known. The car was bouncing up and down the straights of Jeddah and especially in the season opener at the Bahrain International Circuit. It was so severe, in fact, that George Russell suffered from chest pain due to it.
In Miami, the porpoising had lessened, and the drivers’ (and the car) performances improved as well. In any case, it was certainly much more comfortable than having to bounce up and down the straights. The porpoising was lessened even further this weekend in Spain and was almost non-existent in the practice sessions. It made a return during qualifying and the race, but it was no longer near as drastic.
As expected, with the porpoising gone, and the reason for it being understood by the team at Mercedes, they will be able to develop the car much better. While they were still quite a way away from the pole position, they looked very solid in the race, as Toto Wolff had earlier said that they would. Lewis Hamilton affirmed what Wolff had said earlier.
Talking with Sky Sports in a post-race interview, Hamilton said: “We do still have bouncing but not in a straight line, just through the corners. If I hadn’t had the issue at the beginning who knows where I’d have been.“
Hamilton lauded the work done by the team, and expressed his gratitude to them, also saying that ‘the car felt great’:
“Just really grateful I was able to come back. Grateful to the team for keeping their head down. Positive feedback coming through, for all the amazing work to getting us this improvement. The car felt great in the race, our pace is closer to the top guys, which is amazing.”
Strong weekend for Hamilton, And more to come
Lewis Hamilton had a very poor start and touched tires with Kevin Magnussen, who went off into the gravel, and Hamilton was left with a puncture. This meant they were down to the bottom of the grid, and would have to fight back.
Hamilton, in particular, had an amazing recovery drive. From P19, he was able to make his way to P4, before being forced to give up a place to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (who he had earlier overtaken) due to a water leak in the car, which meant Hamilton would have one hand tied behind his back, and was having to lift and coast to control the risk of a very late retirement.
For his amazing recovery during the race, Lewis Hamilton was awarded the ‘Driver of the Day’.
Hamilton and Mercedes would hope for a stronger rest of the season and a good weekend in Monaco for their next targets. His teammate George Russell finished on the podium in the race as well, keeping his streak of top 5 finishes. George Russell is currently in 4th place in the Drivers’ Championship while Lewis Hamilton is 6th, with Carlos Sainz sandwiched in between them.
Also Read: Toto Wolff fires warning to Red Bull and Ferrari: “I think we have done a solid step”
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