Toto Wolff is adamant Mercedes is on the right development path despite the return of porpoising at the Belgian GP

Toto Wolff was optimistic about Mercedes' prospects to find a solution to porpoising.

Toto Wolff is adamant Mercedes is on the right development path despite the return of porpoising at the Belgian GP

Toto Wolff (image via PlanetF1)

The Mercedes F1 team has been working on extensive upgrades in 2023. The Silver Arrows have brought massive changes to the W14 in a bid to close up to championship leaders Red Bull. However, the results of the German team at the Belgian GP were overshadowed by the porpoising of the car. Team Principal Toto Wolff claims that the Brackley-based squad is still on the correct route for car development.

Wolff believed that Mercedes’ potential was hampered significantly because of porpoising, which made it a challenge for the drivers. The Austrian billionaire highlighted that the W14 was even bouncing on the long straights of Spa-Francorchamps. He is quoted by motorsport.com, “The main limiting factor was the bouncing – the car was just bouncing literally on every straight.”

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Toto Wolff reckoned that the floor of the 2023 challenger might be the root cause for the bouncing of the W14. Subsequently, the Mercedes team boss hoped that the team could work and find a solution to this issue. Although, Wolff made it clear that the team was confident of its current development route. At the same time, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell try to extract the most out of the car.

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The Mercedes Team Principal stated, “I think the floor could have been the reason why we’ve been bouncing…there’s something that we need to find because I still believe the direction that we’re going now is the right one.”

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Lewis Hamilton during the Belgian GP F1 Sprint (Credits: @MercedesAMGF1/Twitter)
Lewis Hamilton during the Belgian GP F1 Sprint (Credits: @MercedesAMGF1/Twitter)

The 51-year-old was convinced that Mercedes could tackle this issue after analyzing the data from both cars. Although, Wolff expressed his frustration about heading to the F1 summer break after the return of porpoising. An issue that was a major headache for Mercedes in 2022. He explained, “It’s frustrating to check out for the holidays like this but [the next few days] we’ve got to understand more based on the data.”

After the Belgian GP, Lewis Hamilton raised concerns about the bouncing of the W14 at Spa-Francorchamps. The 7-time world champion was surprised to have his car porpoising once again after recovering from a horrendous time in 2022. Although, Hamilton had reinstated his faith in Toto Wolff’s team to fix this problem in the upcoming weeks.

Thus, Toto Wolff reaffirmed that Mercedes is on the right trajectory in car development despite the porpoising of the W14. Wolff reassured that the Silver Arrows would work to solve this issue. Although, the 51-year-old highlighted the need for his team to understand the reason behind the return of this major problem.

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