Mercedes has done it: 'We've finally got rid of it'

Mercedes, despite building a reliable car, are looking at a big gap in the championship. The team that has ruled the roost for the past eight years has made a serious error in the design of the 2022 car, leaving Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggling to get going. The porpoising in the first five races meant the W13 could not run at full speed on the straights and the drivers had to brake very early before the corner to get the car stable in time.

Mercedes has solved porpoising problems

The problems at Mercedes and other teams were such that at one point the FIA indicated it would intervene. For Mercedes, it no longer seems necessary. Indeed, Wolff says the problems surrounding porpoising have been resolved. In his Mid-season review of the 2022 season the Austrian says: “Our biggest weakness from the get-go was that our car was bouncing, the famous purposing. It meant that this was overshadowing all our development. We couldn't really develop the car aerodynamically and put updates on, because the more downforce we had on the worse the bouncing was."

The turning point came in Barcelona according to the team boss. From there, the team started to understand the car a lot better. This was also reflected in the drivers' results. In the past five races Hamilton has been on the podium every time, his teammate Russell even took pole position in the last race in Hungary. Wolff: "The car has no purposing anymore, but having said that we are missing a few months of development and this is really where we’re playing a catch-up game with the guys in front."