How Did Mercedes W13 Transform From Being An Undrivable Car To Winning A Podium At The Candian GP?

Mercedes faced a major turnaround in the performance of their W13 over the course of the Canadian GP weekend in Montreal. The Silver Arrows decided to head into the Friday practice with two different set-ups in Lewis Hamilton and George Russell\’s car. However, the seven-time world champ could not finish Friday\’s sessions as the experimental set-up he tried was a complete disaster. Meanwhile, his teammate Russell went for a more conventional trim. 

Mercedes saw an improvement in their performance on Saturday as Hamilton qualified P4 on the grid. At the same time, Russell went for a gamble on slick tyres on the wet track conditions in the qualifying. However, the move did not pay off. And George had to start four places behind Lewis at P8. The two Mercedes drivers put up an impressive fight on Sunday as they managed to finish P3 and P4 in Canada, giving Hamilton his second podium of the season. One of the crucial things that paid off for Mercedes was their set-up which helped them put up a much better performance in Montreal. 

Mercedes Went For A Major Set-up Gamble

The German racing team pulled together the data from both the set-ups of Hamilton and Russell\’s W13s. The data led the team to increase the car\’s ride height and soften up the suspensions a little bit to reduce the effects of violent bouncing. Russell seemed to be satisfied with his W13 on Friday and found a way to create an improved set-up. However, he pointed out that Mercedes\’progress in Montreal was no major breakthrough.

George revealed that the porpoising was not too bad on Sunday. However, the car was still smashing up and down the ground as it happened in Baku. But, Russell shared that the bouncing effects were not as extreme due to the circuit\’s nature and the low speed. Also, he felt that the car\’s inherent issues were still far from being solved. The Mercedes driver told that changes in the ride height did not affect the performance in any way. In addition, there has been no change in the stiffness and the bottoming out of the car. George also mentioned that the W13 had different effects when it was run high or low. He added, \”It\’s really a tricky situation to get on top of.\”

Lewis Hamilton also talked about the W13\’s set-up and the improvements during the race. The Briton said that the car definitely had the potential if the team got the set-up right. He told that getting the set-up right is the most difficult thing for his team so far due to the car\’s much smaller working window than Mercedes has experienced before. Thus, the Silver Arrows are trying really hard to optimize the set-up.

Further, the former F1 champ stated that his team tried two different set-ups on Friday, and his set-up turned out to be dreadful. So, the team collated the data they had and made some drastic changes in the set-up. Lewis revealed that the revised set-up turned out to be much better and more in line with what the team had imagined. He furthermore shared that a full race distance reveals a lot about the car. Hamilton added, \”So, there\’s a lot to take from today.\”