In a bid to get more performance out of the W13 porpoising issues this 2022 season, Mercedes has opted to experiment with a series of set-up experiments during free practice at the first nine grands prix.
Lewis Hamilton has often taken the lead inside the Brackley garage, due to his vast experience in Formula 1 compared to his new teammate, George Russell, who is only in his fourth full year in motorsport’s top flight.
The seven-time British champion revealed at the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday morning that he was going to race “something relatively extreme” in practice as part of his experimental role, but later acknowledged it was a “disaster”. However, the Englishman finished the race in Montreal in third place, equaling his best position so far this season.
Asked by Motorsport.com about his ” guinea pig ” job this season, Hamilton joked that “maybe in the second half of the campaign it will be George [Russell] who can do the experiments!”.
The seven-time world champion hopes that the experiments will be more cautious from now on so as not to hinder his weekends too much, despite the progress that the team continues to seek.
“Going forward, I think we’ll be a bit more cautious about doing experiments as it hurts you in the grand prix, especially if you only have one of the dry and two wet practices for example,” said Hamilton . after the appointment of Canada.
“There are a lot of lessons and improvements we can make moving forward,” he continued. “But we had great pace on Sunday, and that’s great to see, it hasn’t always been the case with this car, so it’s great to have a bit of a good fight.”
Hamilton was hopeful his home race next weekend at Silverstone would mean a similar step forward as Mercedes tries to get into the race for wins with Red Bull and Ferrari.
“I just want to be in battle with them,” said the British silver arrows in reference to Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, who accompanied him on the podium in Montreal.
“In the end, when the safety car came out and we started racing again, the dream was if I could continue that fight with them and find a solution, and although they were quick, in the end we will get it,” Hamilton said.
