“There’s quite some lap time,” Toto Wolff hopes to get on top of Mercedes’ porpoising issues before the Miami GP

“There’s quite some lap time,” Toto Wolff hopes to get on top of Mercedes’ porpoising issues before the Miami GP

Toto Wolff

Since the introduction of the new cars, porpoising has become a phenomenon visible across the entire grid. The only difference is in the intensity of it, and at the moment, Mercedes seems to be suffering the most because of it.

Their start to the season has been spoiled by porpoising as they struggle to find the pace and stability in their W13, which has troubled the 7x champion Lewis Hamilton much more than his teammate George Russell. Now, Mercedes’ boss Toto Wolff believes that there’s “quite some lap time,” in case they manage to stabilize the car by running it lower.

As quoted by PlanetF1, Toto Wolff said, “We very much believe that the science we are putting in at the moment will help us to, in effect, run the car lower. It is where we believe we have all the aerodynamic goodness, but we haven’t been able to unlock it because of the bottoming of the car.”

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Toto added, “If we are able to get on top of that, that means there’s quite some lap time we can find. If not, we need to have another idea.”

Toto Wolff admits porpoising highest in Mercedes

Mercedes at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Reading the statements made by Toto Wolff has ensured that Mercedes knows where the issue is and is actively working on it. The good thing is there isn’t any form of denial at any part by them.

The boss admitted, saying, “The fundamental issue that, in a way, overshadows everything, is that our car is porpoising more than others. Because of the bouncing, we are not able to run it where it should run, and that has huge ramifications on the set-up, on the tyre grip etc, etc, etc.”

The team is now solely focusing on porpoising as it appears to be the root of all evil for them. It messes with the overall performance of the car. However, it is a miracle that George Russell has managed to finish consistently in the top 5 with a car that he has at his disposal.

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