Mercedes are finding it hard to get into the championship competition with the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull this year. The racing team is finding struggling to get things right with their W13 car, which is built on the new aerodynamic regulations this season. Mercedes star driver George Russell revealed that the team is working day and night to find the solution for the W13\’s porpoising issue.
All the racing teams have experienced the issue of violent bouncing motion of their new cars during the straights to some extent during the practice runs. However, some teams have managed to solve the problems quickly, while Mercedes is still trying to figure out a way. They still do not know how fast the W13 can go because of the outstanding porpoising problem. Other racing teams have dealt with the issue by cutting the sections of the floor, which leads to a decrease in the downforce.
However, Mercedes has chosen to stick with its original design leading to successive failures in Bahrain and Jeddah Circuit. With the Australian Grand Prix just days away, Mercedes will be working tirelessly to get rid of the porpoising problem before the start of another massive race of the season. Mercedes\’ Russell is still trailing the top-ranked Ferrari\’s Charles Leclerc by 23 points. George currently stands at the fourth spot on the F1 2022 drivers rankings with 22 points. His seven-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton is at the fifth spot for Mercedes with 16 points.
George Russell Explains Mercedes\’ Approach Towards The Problem:
George said that everyone at Mercedes is desperately working to solve the issue as soon as possible. He also revealed that the only time a team gets to test their cars is during the FP1 or FP2 (Friday practice sessions). Russell pointed out that Mercedes equally needs to focus on the race weekend with only a couple of hours of practice on Fridays before the Sunday race, which is certainly not long. Mercedes currently stands at the second spot on the Constructor\’s rankings with 38 points. Moreover, Ferrari is at the top spot with forty more points than Mercedes. Russell hopes that Mercedes can try to stay behind Ferrari until the Silver Arrows find a fix to their porpoising problem. However, Red Bull is right behind Mercedes with 37 points.
The 24-year-old Russell was hopeful that even if it takes Mercedes to fix the issue until the Summer break, the team will have enough races to catch up on the world championship battle. George Russell feels that Mercedes can stay within touching distance if they maximize their points and limit any further damages. The British Formula One racer thinks that they will return strongly to the competition if his team solves the issue. Mercedes\’ trackside engineering head, Andrew Shovlin, has found some temporary fixes for the issue, which the racing team will be able to test during the practice session on April 8.