feature-image

Reuters

feature-image

Reuters

Lewis Hamilton will be a hopeful man for the upcoming home Grand Prix. Although, the season has been a painful one for the British world champion so far. The pain is mostly from the porpoising drivers are facing across the grids in their 2022 challengers. Meanwhile, Mercedes’s W13 seems to be the worst of the lot in terms of the bouncing.

Watch What’s Trending Now!

And the bouncy W13 is causing pain to the British drivers as we’ve heard from Hamilton so far. The complaints did, however, get attention from the FIA as they issued a technical directive. Although, the complaints, not just from Hamilton but the rest of the field, have earned some criticism from F1 entities.

ADVERTISEMENT

Former Red Bull driver David Coulthard shared his harsh criticism toward the complaints from the drivers. “If any driver feels uncomfortable, if any driver feels he’s doing himself long-term damage, step aside. There’s a whole bunch of guys and girls that would very happily step into your car if you feel uncomfortable,” said Coulthard.

Read More: Lewis Hamilton’s Past Catches Up to Him as F1 Netizens Go Crazy With George Russell’s Recent Confession

“I think we have to keep in perspective that sport doesn’t come with ‘Princess and the Pea’ mattresses.” he added.

Coulthard shared his thoughts with his 15 years of experience in the traveling circus. However, the criticism will not be taken kindly by drivers who are feeling the effects of the bouncing in real-time.

The effects of bouncing were especially bad in Baku on the main straights as the speeds went up to 215mph and bouncing was extreme. Thankfully, the FIA has now issued a directive to help with the bouncing.

Lewis Hamilton is not entirely happy with the solution to porpoising

The complaints made FIA intervene and issue a directive. However, the directive basically stated to increase the height of the cars to reduce the bouncing. And increasing the height of an F1 car is inversely related to the race pace. The more the height, the slower the car. And the Mercedes man is not a fan of this idea as the world champion wants to stay competitive as well.

article-image

Reuters

“So we do lose performance naturally when you do go higher, but this porpoising is caused by the disrupted flow underneath the car,” explained Hamilton.

Watch This Story: Pregnancy Restrictions Stopped Lindsey Vonn From Taking F1 Deal To Join Lewis Hamilton

The bouncing was under control at the Canadian Grand Prix. But the real question is, can Mercedes keep the pace while staying competitive? Guess we’ll find out at the upcoming British GP.

ADVERTISEMENT

Share this with a friend:

Link Copied!

ADVERTISEMENT

Written by

author-image

Mahim Suhalka

2,204 Articles

Mahim is a senior Formula 1 writer at EssentiallySports. With a Diploma in Sports Management, he ventured into sports journalism for his sheer passion for F1. Mahim has written over 2000 articles during his tenure at ES, and his expertise is in perspective pieces and core sports coverage. Mahim’s writing flair and meticulous research work have resulted in him contributing to in-depth analysis on teams like Red Bull and Mercedes as well as Team Principals Christian Horner and Toto Wolff. His support for Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team and their #44 driver Lewis Hamilton came naturally after being awestruck by the brilliance during his foray into F1. You can follow him on X @MahimSuhalka.

Know more

Edited by

editor-image

Ranvijay Singh

ADVERTISEMENT