In a bid to gather more data to help understand the porpoising problem plaguing the Mercedes car, the Germans fitted some additional sensors to Lewis Hamilton’s car for the race, including a height sensor which could be seen emitting a bright light.
Most teams choose to use these tools during free practice, before removing them for qualifying and the race itself, due to the increased weight they represent. The teams are already investigating the reduction of the kilos of their cars to adjust to the minimum limit imposed by the new 2022 regulations, so every gram counts.
Mercedes chief strategy officer James Vowles explained that the Silver Arrows had “too many unanswered questions” in the W13 so they decided to take the unusual step of fitting the sensors to Hamilton’s car on Sunday in Melbourne.
“In a normal year, you wouldn’t even consider mounting the sensors. You would add everything to make sure you understand what’s going on, but this is not a normal season, and the car is overweight,” said the Briton.
Lewis Hamilton finished the race in Australia in fourth position, just behind teammate George Russell, after losing out due to the young Briton’s pit stop under the safety car period.
Although the seven-time champion was able to catch up with his teammate at the end of the test, overheating problems meant that he was unable to get close enough to try to overtake.
Vowles said there would always be a small weight trade-off between the two cars due to the large number of parts they would introduce at each round, and that the added sensors were only a small cost to Hamilton.
“In terms of how it worked, there are thousands of components that make up the car for George [Russell] and Lewis [Hamilton], and those things weigh the same,” the Mercedes team member said.
“There is a difference of a few grams, and the actual weight of the car, as quoted on the FIA scale, between the two cars was within a few grams of difference, so Lewis did a fantastic job of bringing these additional sensors,” he continued.
“In the end, the price was small, a question of grams between the two of us, which is what we wanted,” said Vowles, who also added that although Mercedes had collected a lot of information, they would not solve everything in one day.
“It is not that something can be found from this that suddenly turns everything upside down and that we are going to find a solution in a race, but it gives us clues and understanding of what we have to do to move forward,” he said.
