Hamilton says Mercedes still have bouncing issues: "Similar to last year"

Once again, that was shown under the lights of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit during qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. While Verstappen and his rapid RB20 dominated the entire session to take pole position, Hamilton and his Mercedes could only manage P8, continuing to show teething problems that they have had since the 2022 regulation changes.

His teammate George Russell could only finish one place better when the chequered flag dropped at the end of Q3 in what was a disappointing showing from Mercedes, and one they will look to improve on during Saturday's race.

"It's three years in a row now. We've got to fix it."

The biggest issue hindering both Hamilton and Russell was the continuous bouncing occurring during their laps, specifically at turns eight, nine and ten. Mercedes also have had issues with this bouning or 'porpoising' in the last couple of years, with Hamilton seemingly annoyed that it has not been figured out yet.

"It was similar to previous years," started the Brit. "There are so many elements of this car which are better, but we are being hindered by the bouncing we have. We've got to fix it. It's three years in a row. We've got to get on top of it."

Hamilton continued by saying: "The bouncing we have through turns six, seven, eight, nine and 10, which probably affected George... it's something they have not been able to fix. We made some changes overnight, and this morning, the car felt so much better. I was re-gaining this confidence again, but then when we got to qualifying, it disappeared again."

Hamilton praises his teammate for coping with issues

Although these issues have dogged Mercedes for a few years and were clearly evident in Friday's qualifying, Hamilton said his teammate did a great job throughout the day. "George did a great job. He's a lot more comfortable in the car - similar to the past couple of years, I'd say.

"But we keep our heads down and keep working away. I've got a bit of a better feeling as to where the issues are coming from, so I will try and address it with the team."

Hamilton concluded by talking about where this issue might stem from, saying that the team "have tried every set-up change" but still can't source out the problem.

"We had some bouncing in Bahrain, but nowhere near as intense as here. That first sector is super high-speed with a lot of lateral loads, and the bouncing really offsets the car quite a bit. If you imagine when the car goes up and down at the back, your balance shifts forwards and rearwards.

"If you are doing that at 160 or 170, correcting that each time... the others like Max are flat through six, seven and eight, and the balance is just stable. That's what we are working towards."