Why Hamilton's cold back shows he was in serious pain

Bouncing W13

For Hamilton, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was no picnic. The Briton drove his bouncing W13 around the track lap after lap, and with the floor stiffer than his teammate's, Hamilton suffered even more from all the bangs on the straights due to porpoising. Halfway through the race, Hamilton reported that he had a cold back.

In the end, this turned out to have nothing to do with a part in the car that had gotten cold, but it was Hamilton's own body. ''I actually had no answer to this until I asked Lewis just a few minutes ago,'' says Shovlin in the Mercedes Debrief.

Cold back for Hamilton

''There wasn't necessarily anything changed about the car, but because of all the blows Lewis' back had taken from the bouncing, his back was numb. The cold seemed to be a reaction to that. There was nothing cold in the car, but it was just a reaction of the body to the huge amount of pain,'' says Mercedes' Motorsport Strategy Director.

Mercedes, meanwhile, is doing everything it can to reduce the bouncing and is also looking to the FIA. According to the German team, the current rules also contribute to this problem and make the cars dangerous. However, a lot of competitors disagree with that. They argue that Mercedes itself does not have things in order and that the Germans should not be helped with a rule change.