A lot of talk surrounding the current generation of F1 car last season seemed to revolve around the “porpoising” caused by the floors of the new cars. The team that seemed to suffer most of all was the up until recently dominant Mercedes.
With the work put in over the winter they returned for 2023 with this issue seemingly resolved, though still at a fairly significant pace disadvantage to Red Bull and even behind their customer team Aston Martin (up until recently anyway). However, the bouncing Mercedes returned at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, another source of frustration for drivers and engineers alike.
Mercedes arrived in Belgium with more of their planned upgrades aimed at closing the gap to their main competition — another variation of their new sidepods — with the so called ‘zero side pod’ now consigned to the scrapheap — and a new floor.
Though Lewis Hamilton managed to cross the line in a respectable 4th place, bringing himself within 1 point of current 3rd placed driver Fernando Alonso in the drivers standings’ — with a fastest lap along the way — the British driver struggled with the bouncing all weekend, a problem he thought he had left behind, saying it was “back to the bouncing like we had last year”.
Though he later admitted the team “don’t know” exactly what is causing it, the seven-time-world champion said they are committed to finding a solution before the next race:
“But we’ll work through the data. I think we’ll work through the data this week, and then try and figure out what we do for the next race.
Team Principal Toto Wolff also fielded numerous questions post-race about the return of the issue that plagued the team throughout the 2022 season. The Austrian confirmed how extreme it was after speaking to the drivers and seeing the data.
“The main limiting factor was the bouncing — the car was just bouncing literally on every straight.
“Even Blanchimont was a corner where Lewis had to lift, and it is an easy flat [one] normally. You’re bouncing on the straight, you overheat the tyres under braking, so that is a vicious circle.”
Pushed on what could have caused the bouncing, the Mercedes team boss said that while the team still has to analyse the data from the race, they suspect the new floor could be responsible:
“I think the floor could have been the reason why we’ve been bouncing, but we’re going to see it in the data.”
He did however remain committed to the new design direction the team had taken and was confident it was the correct path:
“I still believe the direction that we’re going now is the right one.”
