Mercedes W13 is facing an extreme porpoising problem as was seen in the free practice sessions in Bahrain on Friday.
Mercedes had entered the Sakhir circuit claiming that they might not deliver a successful performance. Known for its history of sandbagging, the rivals scoffed at those claims.
However, after Friday’s practice sessions in Bahrain, it seems that the concerns of the Brackley-based team are valid.
The new Mercedes driver, George Russell was sixth-tenths slower than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. ANd Lewis Hamiton was 1.2 seconds behind his title rival.
The team is getting bad results mainly because it has not been to find a solution to their porpoising problem yet.
Mercedes tried out two different floor configurations on Friday hoping that at least one would stand out. Trackside engineering director Andy Shovlin did get a clear read on which of the configurations was best for the bouncing, but the team has not resolved the issue completely.
Furthermore, former world champion Damon Hill was shocked after watching Hamilton’s bouncy lap. He said that it is possible that the team did a big set-up change and that is why they came out on the track late but it did not work.
“You could see from the onboard camera [Hamilton] was getting a proper shaking around. Whether he can actually see is one question!
“As the speed increases, the oscillation gets greater. You get the occasional bump, but this is ridiculous. That is just out of control stalling and releasing.”
George Russell had a slightly better performance
While Hamilton suffered the effects of the porpoising issue and could only log enough speed to stand at ninth at the end of the practice.
Meanwhile, his teammate George Russell had a slightly better time and didn’t seem to have the same degree of problems. Russell took the lead in fourth place.
Looking at Russell’s performance, Hill said, “Mercedes will be comparing set-ups, perhaps it is a set-up thing, perhaps it is something else.”
“I mean, if you’ve got the same set-up and then one car is doing it and the other car’s not, you’ve got a real problem!”
Also Read: Why is the Bahrain Grand Prix held at night under the moonlight?
Mercedes could have problems with zero side pods
Hill had previously suggested that Mercedes’ zero side pods could be a part of the problem. “I’m not an engineer or an aerodynamicist, but one of the issues they had was the flexing of the floors,” the 1996 World Champion explained on the F1 Nation podcast.
“There is so much suck coming from under the floors now that I think they’re having trouble keeping control of the floors, that is why they’ve put these floor-stays in.
“If you look at the Mercedes, there is a vast area because they’ve got such slim side pods, there is not much there to hold the floor up and it could be that they’re getting more of this flex which is creating a problem to control the aerodynamics at the back of the car.”
“So it could be that once they get that fixed, that they will be able to control the downforce.”
