As the Circuit de Barcelona was the scene of the first three days of winter testing, Mercedes arrived at the Spanish Grand Prix with high expectations and a package with big changes to try to solve some of its problems, especially porpoising .
Thanks to these modifications to the W13, the star team seemed to suffer less, giving its drivers, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, a more predictable car with which to gain confidence little by little.
The two pilots particularly highlighted the absence of an almost non-existent porpoising , although they also admitted that it had not been 100% eliminated, but that it was easier to manage.
In its traditional informative video after each race, Mercedes , through its director of strategy, James Vowles , asked for calm on the matter: Barcelona was great news, but for now nothing guarantees that the situation will not worsen again in the next circuits, at least until the understanding of the behavior of the renewed W13 is more advanced.
“The car has performed well in one of six races,” Vowles said. “It was really a race car for the first time. We were able to tune it, tweak it, play with the settings and it responded predictably, not like the car we had in the first five races of the season.
“However, we have to temper our expectations. This is a unique circuit and a track where our cars have always adapted well over the last few years. But there is still a lot to understand and learn from our side.”
“I think it would be a mistake to say that the rebound problem is over. I think you can still see it in our rivals and I’m sure there will be elements [of the old car] that will come back as we understand the current car.”
“What I can say is that we have made an important step, a step in our understanding of the car and the improvements we brought to the track. Now we can build on that foundation,” concluded James Vowles .
Lewis Hamilton, at the wheel of the renewed Mercedes W13 in Barcelona.
