Lewis Hamilton and his team-mate, George Russell , appear to have been uncomfortable with the new W13 during this week’s Bahrain testing, as was the Mercedes, which also failed to perform in the changeable conditions at Sakhir, with high daytime temperatures. and somewhat lower when the sun goes down.
The seven-time champion set the fourth fastest time at the end of Friday’s session, although Kevin Magnussen’s Haas beat his mark in the extra hour available to him due to cargo delays from the American team.
Although Hamilton isn’t entirely bummed out by the situation, he admits things have been far from ideal: “It’s tough. You can see on the onboard camera, the wheel moving left and right.”
“You’re bouncing and jumping, and that’s not good at the moment, but we’re trying to get it under control,” explained the Brit after getting out of the car.
Hamilton thinks that the improvements that Mercedes have brought to the Bahrain tests are not to blame for the problems, and he suspects that the unique conditions of the Middle East are the reason.
“It’s the wind, that’s why we have the porpoising,” he said. “This week we’re still having it, and it’s worse. So we’re working on a lot of different scenarios, trying to figure out how to keep the downforce down and not rebound like last session.
“I think everyone is in the same boat, some have managed to get around it in a better way, but it is difficult. It is bumpy, it is slippery, there is sand in the morning and it is very hot, and in the afternoon it is dusty” , he continued.
However, Hamilton is confident that Mercedes can work on the problems he is experiencing to get to the first race of the year in good shape: “These are just obstacles that we encounter with this new type of car that everyone faces in 2022. “.
“I’m confident the team here and the factory team will figure it out, but it’s definitely not going to be an easy road,” said the Englishman.
Russell could only have been the 13th fastest driver of the 15 on Friday, but when asked if Mercedes was disguising their true pace, Hamilton dismissed it.
“We would be very, very, very good if we had all these oversteer moments and had this driving just to hide our (pace) car,” he replied. “That’s not the case, we have things that we’re trying to improve.”
“I think, as I said, others are fighting less, but who knows? Maybe when we get to next week, we’ll have a better understanding,” said the seven-time world champion.
