Barcelona was an important race for Mercedes. Not only did they score a podium, but it seems like they have also managed to solve most of their porpoising issues. Both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton showed tremendous pace, and it strengthened the belief that Mercedes now understood their problems. 

Prior to Spain, Mercedes had put on a new floor for their filming day in Paul Richard in France. While there are very pictures highlighting the changes to the underbody floor; there are visible changes to the outer floor. Formula 1 Technical expert Mark Hughes believes that a strip-like fillet section on the outer edge of the floor allows the tunnel to be tuned as required. 

“There is a heightened section just inboard of that, suggesting that the tunnel has a higher ceiling in this area. The whole inboard profile of the tunnel appears to have changed and it appears as if the expansion ramp angle at the back has been increased.”

READ MORE: Unveiled Lewis Hamilton Picture Reveals $57,000 Max Verstappen-Like F1 Move at Spanish GP

Mark concludes, “Both the higher ceiling and the bigger expansion angle would in theory make for a floor less prone to the airflow stalling at the lowest ride heights and thereby triggering porpoising”.

Even George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were happy with the car this weekend. Much like on Friday, where the W13 had quite a bit of pace, was then repeated through qualifying. The Mercedes emerged to be the fastest when Lewis Hamilton clocked in 209.83 mph (337.7 kph). 

Mercedes strike back in Barcelona

It was an encouraging weekend for Mercedes in terms of development. And while it could have resulted in a race victory, there were a lot of positives. After suffering an early collision with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton was relegated to the back. However, a fantastic recovery driver saw him climb up to P4, only to give up that position due to a water leak in the engine. 

“In the end, the race pace was tidy. He [Hamilton] would have raced for the win,” said Toto to Sky Sports. 

Quoted by MotorLat, Toto Wolff commented, “It’s better than expected because I am always so pessimistic about things. We’ve played clear from the midfield, at least in Barcelona here, and caught up half a second to the frontrunners. We were a second off and now it’s half a second. There is more to come, more understanding now which we can unlock in the car, I’m sure about that.”

“They’re getting themselves back into this championship,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner. “I’ve said from race one that they’re a very, very strong team. They’ve got great strength in depth, and you can see they’ve made a big step this weekend, that it’s been a positive weekend for them.”

Watch This Story: Charles Leclerc Robs Cursed Drake Of Whopping Amount Owing To Spanish GP Tragedy

It will be interesting to see how a resurgent Mercedes can influence the trajectory of this championship.