Mercedes explains: 'That's creating the bouncing that you see'

F1 News

15 June 2022 at 14:54
Last update 15 June 2022 at 18:49
  • GPblog.com

Mercedes cannot match the qualities of Red Bull Racing and Ferrari this season. As a result, the German racing team is diligently looking for improvements, with the bouncing of the car high on the priority list. James Vowles explains in Mercedes' debrief the complexity of the problem.

From the preparations for the new season, Mercedes suffered from porpoising. Although the formation was certainly not the only one to suffer from it, other teams, unlike Mercedes, managed to solve some or all of the problems.

At the Barcelona Grand Prix, Mercedes finally seemed to have found a solution to the problem. The cars of the Germans performed rock solid on the track and this resulted in, among other things, a third place for George Russell, although he benefited somewhat from the retirement of Charles Leclerc.

However, after porpoising, another problem came to the fore, namely bouncing. "The car is lower als a result of fixing the first issue," Vowles points to the porpoising. "But now hitting the deck quite hard and that's creating the bouncing that you see at the moment."

Hamilton reassures Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton emerged from his car broken by the problem, raising fears that the Briton could not compete in Canada this coming weekend. However, the seven-time world champion said a day later that he is ready for the next race, although his back is still bothering him.