At the Canadian Grand Prix, Mercedes looked competitive, finishing third and fourth. According to Toto Wolff, the weekend showed that the porpoising problem is now mainly solved, he revealed to Autosport.com.
The team boss indicates that Mercedes' problems are now mainly caused by a car that is too stiff. In terms of porpoising, the team is now on par with its rivals, Wolff believes.
The stiffness of the car is especially noticeable when the drivers fly over the kerbs. According to Wolff, this impact needs to be reduced, something that can be done by lowering the kerbs and making the track smoother. Yet Mercedes will also have to look at its own car, as it seems that the low floor of the W13 also causes lower performance.
Controversy surrounding porpoising
Following complaints from Lewis Hamilton and George Russell about the physical pain and potentially dangerous situation, the FIA has indicated it will come up with a solution. On Thursday in Canada the FIA came up with a new floor bar as a possible aid against porpoising, but Mercedes apparently already had it ready. There was a lot of criticism from Helmut Marko and Mattia Binotto among others about the 'technical directives' of the FIA.
This coming week the FIA will have another discussion with the teams and drivers about the porpoising problem. The conversation in Canada caused disagreement between the teams, causing a furious Wolff to leave the meeting. Whether Mercedes has actually solved the problem will be seen at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton is in any case not yet reassured.
Lewis is not going to win a race this year!.......So Toto give it up!
Where does this stop?! Mercedes is making a JOKE of itself. Please save face Mercedes this mentally ill guys time is over. and is causing your brand more harm than good.
I’m a little confused. Are we now changing the rules to help Lewis’ back or not? Surely it deserves some helping because the entire sport is made for it.
"Lewis Hamilton is in any case not yet reassured" As long as he avoids the ongoing embarrassment of being out driven by his 24 yo rookie he will remain reassured no matter how much bouncing. Thats all what its about for him.
I am almost not wanting to comment it is so sickening. Mercedes, may they never win another constructors championship and I here vow never to ever buy any of their products and I can afford too.
Now this is actually everyone has in common more or less. Maybe most or almost everyone have solved the porpoising issues but everyone also had to make their car super stiff to do so. Yesterday at some point the ferrari of Sainz nearly flew to the atlantic ocean when he touched a curb a little more. There is no way this is nice for drivers. I can't assess how big a safety risk it actually is though. Only the FIA can and I hope they will do it objectively. People are getting too carried away and just imagining the absolute worse about this. I had been out of F1 for several years and it *really* makes me wonder what did Wolff do to create such suspiciousness to people ?
Look on the bright side guys....Silverstone is building up to be epic. Cancel all other plans guys...This is one not to miss.
Merc is used to having an unfair advantage and they desperately want that back again. If they have to lie, cheat, steal, and play-act like they are crippled they will do so. Still, they will not challenge for the championship this year. Hilarious!
Merc needs to make up their mind.....the one week it is so bad that Ham is nearly confined to a wheelchair.....the next week.....it is sorted....as long as the tracks are altered to suit their car,that is....that's probably only on average about 13 corners per race that needs to be turned into easy corners where the kerbs don't provide a challenge and the rest of the tracks needs to be flattened to a billiard smooth surface..... I think Merc would be happiest if all tracks just gets turned into life size Scalextric at this stage.
Tott is one big joke he just needs to be in the line light to help ham get his 8th title and they dont like the new ruls so want them change for his team if i was fia id tell totto dont like rules tough its called motor racing
So in one week, bearing in mind everything is shipped from Baku to Montreal, the engineers fixed this problem. A problem so bad the FIA were called in. Its just not possible there was no time, not even for the engineers meetings never mind completing a fix that was deemed to be just to much of a challenge. (although RB sorted it)
You are one big liar Wolf, and a bully. Sport could do without you. F..k Off
Even with the bouncing more under control, ALL of the cars are stiff as a board. Step away from which team is having a worse go of it and admit the regulations with ground effects is a poor one. All the cars go through the corners like box trucks and its visible to the eye how clumsy they are. Just my two cents.
They removed the inerter from the suspension compared to last year (because of costs and simplicity)? According to other sites that increases the porpoising so maybe it is an idea to bring that back?
Lowering the curbs? Is he high or something? So after trying to alter the regs, which is no longer needed as they miraculously found the solution just a week after the FIA stated they would solve it for them, they now try to change the circuits? Do they not see themselves that NO OTHER TEAM is doing this nonesense?
Kinda weird how the team called for Masi head to roll. Yet now that they are incompetent to solve the problems they created they call for rule changes (including nose rings) In this case another head must roll on their side then. Who will it be? The Wolff or the driver with the yellow cam?
So in short: Wolff: We need to change rules NOW! This is so dangerous, our drivers can get hurt. Everybody: Raise your car? Hamilton: Absolutely man, did you see me coming out of car, it's manipulated man. Everybody: Raise your car? Russell: Yes, this is so so bad, we have tried everything, nothing works. And I mean NOTHING. Everybody: Raise your car? ...few days later: FIA: Ok, we make you change your ride height higher if you drive too low and it hurts your drivers. Few days later: Wolff: All fine, we found the solution. Hamilton: Yeah we tried softer suspension and higher car, it worked. Russell: Guys, I told the all World that we have tried everything and now this.... Binotto: Mamma mia whata punch of amateurs. Horner: ******* Mercedes, ******* Toto Wolff: Still it's not ok, we can't drive over the kerbs like we used to. Everybody: Don't drive over the kerbs then. Wolff: But still it's n.... Horner: shut *** **** up
Outstanding man, you nailed it! They called MB’s bluff/sandbag! The drama was too much to handle!
Yes, but the lack of character and integrity problem rages on.
Its not solved they said that at basalon and then ham next race hurt his back and then now no bk probs mb just bad at not being on top
So if it is solved then why the hurry and need for a regulation change?
Because MB wanted active suspension to give them a edge over the competition. Their engine is solid and reliable (but not the fastest yet). They have 2 good drivers and know how to upgrade during a season. Now that FIA won't budge on the active suspension, all porpoising problems have miraculously been solved
Their whole car is super solid and reliable. The porpoising they will eventually (or according to Toto right now already) master as well and then they surely come back to fight for wins. It is just too bad about their whole attitude while they had their initial design wrong and then wanting the FIA to fix their issues instead. Active suspension would have never been introduced for this season. Too many car changes wohld be needed to implement that, and too much money as well.
It's all about the long game. We are in the beginning of a new car design era. And no, i don't like the way the MB team is acting.
Because they now realize the FIA solution would penalize them more. They wanted all teams to be penalized. They really are the most loathed team in F1.
That indeed seemed to be the case, especially now that Toto said this. Unfortunately their attitude brings down any compassion for that team for a lot of people. While they surely have great engineers to design and fix things and 2 good drivers.
So why did mb need fia get invold now wants kerb lowerd and tracks resurfesed what a joke mb are no surfice is smoth
Yeah man, From what is read here it seems like car will be ok, but all tracks needs to be amended to suit the car? Perhaps I'm reading it wrong? Quote: "The stiffness of the car is especially noticeable when the drivers fly over the kerbs. According to Wolff, this impact needs to be reduced, something that can be done by lowering the kerbs and making the track smoother. Yet Mercedes will also have to look at its own car, as it seems that the low floor of the W13 also causes lower performance."
You read it well. His car is ok but now the circuits are the problem and need to be adapted. ?? Who is going to stop this mad man? He must have missed his medication for almost two years now.
WTF, this dude is nuts, one can clearly see there car is still porpoising on the straights, Mercedes said they are going sponsorships new track surfacing too
What we are seeing is the foundation work for MB Racing - FIA cooperation so that MB Racing can bring in some kind of currently illegal device or design change that will correct and possibly improve on what their original slim side pod concept was supposed to do. They have been working on this device/change (what I do not know) for a while but the testing in Spain made it clear they had to move quicker than originally expected due to the sever porpoising. This problem was actually solved in Practice 2 in Italy when George topped the session with a 1:19:47. That was basically the same setup that they ran yesterday. They said they had NO IDEA WHY they were so fast then and could never replicate the results. The fact is they intentionally started sandbagging creating the incredible theatrics that we have been witnessing ever since. What why would they intentionally lose out on better performance that makes no sense!! Simple; they are still just a third place team and sadly will be unless they can this current illegal device made legal. So as long as they do not fall further back than third there is no difference to them, but if they keep this show going with the car bouncing all over hell and back they can gain a sympathetic ear from the fans. They do not need to convince the FIA, there are people in the FIA already working with them on this. Can you guess who?? Why are they going to be stuck in third?? Because they have an engine problem. The same problem Ferrari has right now. If they turn it up to match the Honda output it wears too quickly or blows up. They are stuck with this engine design for the next few years so they need another advantage. Problem is its currently illegal. The only way they can make this MB - FIA collaboration not so obvious is to make a “MUCH NEEDED CHANGE FOR SAFETY SAKE!!!!”. To give this idea some meat MB started to do everything they could to make as dramatic scene as possible which included cranking the suspension up so tight that they were running a giant GO KART. The lowering did help the performance a bit but the theatrical benefit was priceless. The antics in Monte Carlo were not enough so by Baku they had to up there game hence Lewsis’s back getting cold and the crawling out of the car like he was an 86 year old man.
Yes yes pure speculation. And Toto and Lewis are the most liked and respected people on the team, Nobody at that team would be tired of their crap and want to share their frustration.
Very detailed speculations. Pure indeed but detailed. I'll remember these speculations and the future will proof him wrong or right. Thx f1Honesty
You do realize this sounds *exactly* like some tinfoil hat conspiracy theory right? ?
Yes and since this could not have ever happened take it as just a simple guy wearing a tin foil hat looking for attention. It cant of happened this way. They just all of a sudden between the last practice got everything right and magically turned the porpoising problem around. Your too clever for me. You saw right through me. Rats!!!
Nah no magic involved. They have been frantically working on this for months now. They may be struggling but this is still Mercedes we are talking about... They seemed to have created other problems in the process though such as a stiff and uncomfortable ride for their drivers and of course, a car which is not competitive to the top teams by a wide margin. So yes, I don't believe this is all part of the huge "master plan you are describing in your long chain of assumptions. I consider it a huge stretch.
Maybe MB is just the more active team trying to side by all drivers.
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