George Russell, Mercedes Formula 1 driver, expects bouncing problems at the British Grand Prix. He doubts the team progress to resolve the issues completely.
Russel was onboarded to the Mercedes team in 2022 after being lent to the Williams F1 team for three years. Unfortunately, his first half of the season was engulfed by the team’s struggles with its W13.
F1 and FIA had introduced major regulatory overhaul at the start of 2022 season, which was due in 2021. The new regulations has struck many teams with bouncing and porpoising issues. Mercedes remain the major victim of new regulations and its associated problems.
The seven times constructor championship winner team has only managed to find itself on the podium for five times. Mercedes is far behind Red Bull and Ferrari on the constructor’s standings with only 188 points.
The German squad exhibited progress with the porpoising problem at the Spanish Grand Prix because of an update. It helped the team to unleash its W13 potential. However, Russel and his teammate Lewis Hamilton still had to handle bouncing cars through the corners.
“It all caught us by surprise when we went to Barcelona, and we weren’t porpoising down the straight. But then we got to the corners, the two high speed corners – Turn 3 and Turn 9 – and were all bouncing through the corners,” Russell told Autosport.
“If you listen to our onboard during quali. Or the Ferrari onboard. You hear them like ‘crush, crush, crush’ through the corner itself in Turn 3 and Turn 9. Now that was at 250km/h – Copse is 300km/h.
“So, it’s not going to be easy to navigate. But I think there’ll be a number of teams in the same boat.”
Russell recalled last year Williams FW44 at Copse, where he went flat through the opening practice.
Russell said: “I’m pretty confident I won’t be doing that this year. Even though we’ve got a substantial amount more downforce at high-speed.”
Russell felt “awful from within the car” while going through the high-speed corners in Barcelona. Mercedes was the fastest team which the Brit found “quite intriguing”.
Mercedes is bringing more updates at the Silverstone Grand Prix this weekend. The team is betting on bids to help both Russel and Hamilton to outshine others at their home race.
Christian Horner, Red Bull F1 boss, expects the German team to be back at the front row. But Russell believes the shift in track specification does not guarantee success.
