Mercedes recognizes a delay in its development due to porpoising

Supposed to tighten the peloton compared to previous years, the new technical regulations above all revealed a problem more or less common to all single-seaters: porpoising. “ The ground effect is so important that the car, sucked into the ground, is in effect suction, Philippe Alliot explained to us before the start of the season. To a certain point, where the car is so low that ground effect completely disappears. The car therefore begins to bounce naturally, through an oscillating movement at the rear suspension.. » Among the victims, Mercedes was one of the most affected by this phenomenon.

Not having developed the best car as it was used to doing since the start of the hybrid era, the German team also had to deal with porpoising which caused big headaches for the drivers. Lewis Hamilton had for example finished the Azerbaijan Grand Prix out of breath and above all physically affected since he was seen holding his lower back. Problems that Toto wolff himself admitted.

Lewis Hamilton was seen suffering in Baku. ©DPPI

Bad start for Mercedes

« We lost many months of development because we simply had to resolve the porpoising problem before we could even get into a performance car again., recognized the main Mercedes team when taking stock of the year.

Everything we had added in terms of downforce was kind of for nothing. The pilots couldn't even smell it. The car became even more unpredictable and the bouncing got worse. Given the six month delay in finding performance in the car, we knew it was going to be very difficult to catch up Ferrari et Red Bull. »

A delay that Mercedes practically made up for at the end of the season by almost leveling with Ferrari. The star firm even managed to score a double in Brazil thanks in particular to the first victory in F1 by George Russell. Good hope for 2023?

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