“Very intense bounces” at the origin of Mick Schumacher’s water leak in FP1

In Baku, Mick Schumacher was hoping to spend a quieter weekend than in Monaco... well it's already a failure. The German was the victim of a mechanical problem in the first laps during Free Practice 1. An impressive water leak under the sidepods of the VF-22 prematurely ended the session for the No. 47 car. Already completely rebuilt after the accident during the Monaco Grand Prix, car did not support the return of porpoising on the Azeri route.

⚠️ Slippery Streets Ahead ⚠️

An unusual issue with Schumacher's car in FP1 💦#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/atPL1TuxPK

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 10, 2022

Mick Schumacher, unable to complete a timed lap during FP1, blames the rebound phenomenon and accuses it of being the origin of the breakdown. “It seems that the water leak problem happened because of the very intense bouncing we experienced in the first lap, and it just destroyed our program. »

The pilot Haas admits that his car has never suffered so much porpoising, which complicates his driving. “It's the first time that I physically feel the effect of these bounces, it's quite hard on the body and also on the car. This is something we will have to think about for the next sessions.”

Schumacher's breakdown, “something strange” according to Steiner

As for the Haas team, Schumacher's breakdown raises some questions. Team principal Günther Steiner did not provide an explanation for the origin of the leak. “FP1 started badly with the water leak on Mick's car. He couldn't do any laps, which is not good at a track like this. Something strange happened and we're lucky the same thing didn't happen to Kevin because he was very close to having it too, so we fixed it for FP2. »

If Mick Schumacher was unable to complete a single timed lap in FP1, the German was able to complete 21 laps in FP2, but only with the 19th fastest time. Kevin Magnussen did not do much better, with the 17th time during the 2nd session, 2,4 seconds behind the best time. Günther Steiner draws a contrasting assessment of this first day of testing: “ FP1 was actually pretty good. We then made some changes for FP2 and we didn't perform as well as we expected, so we have to go back to work tonight and see what we can do to be able to get some performance in the car tomorrow (Saturday). »

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