George Russell has backed his teammate Lewis Hamilton to ‘come back so strong’ despite the pair suffering with a Mercedes car that is giving them ‘chest pains’.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton had another weekend to forget at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, leaving Italy having picked up zero points and conceding his bid to win a record-breaking eighth championship title.
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The 37-year-old started Sunday’s feature race in 14th and made up only a single spot during a frustrating afternoon, behind the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly.
To compound the Brit’s miseries, his new teammate, 24-year-old Russell, managed to steer his W13 to an impressive fourth place finish – beating Hamilton for the third consecutive race weekend.
It was put to Russell that he was able to get more out of the Mercedes than his more experienced teammate, claims which he candidly dismissed.
“I think it’s just how things fall out sometimes in a race weekend,” he said.
“I made a very strong start. I don’t know what happened with him [Hamilton] at the start, but we are equally struggling, and when the car is so far out of bed, and it’s not in the right window, it doesn’t really feel like a proper racing car to drive.
“I expect him to come back so strong, and the way he’s pushing and motivating the team is inspiring.
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“I’m not getting comfortable with this position, because I know what he’s capable of.
“Lewis is going to come back incredibly strong, I have no doubt, and he’s definitely going to push me all the way.”
Formula 1 has undergone drastic rule changes for the 2022 season, simplifying aerodynamics which made it easier for cars to follow each other and improving competitive racing.
However, said changes have led to a new phenomenon, dubbed ‘porpoising’, where airflow under the car maxes out and momentarily lifts the car before it then drops back.
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The process then repeats itself and in real time shows drivers bouncing up and down on the straights – an unwanted outcome that some teams are mastering far better than others.
Mercedes – winners of the Contructors’ championship for seven years running – are arguably having the worst time of anyone on the grid, though, losing almost a second to the pace-setters on the straights with their drivers even having to lift off the throttle in Italy.
Russell, 24, explained the issues with the W13 in dramatic fashion, going into detail on the physical effects of the bouncing.
“When the car is in the right window and the tyres are in the right window, except for the bouncing, it feels really good to drive,” the former Williams driver said.
“But the bouncing really takes your breath away, it’s the most extreme I’ve ever felt it.
“I really hope we find a solution, and I hope every team who is struggling with the bouncing finds a solution because it’s not sustainable for the drivers to continue with this level.
“This is the first weekend where I’ve truly been struggling with my back, and almost like chest pains from the severity of the bouncing, but it’s what we have to do to get the fastest lap times out of the car.”
His team boss, Toto Wolff, admitted Mercedes are struggling far worse than anyone else, and it may not be too long before they have to scrap their development plan to find a way out of their woes.
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“I think the fundamental issue which overshadows anything is our car is porpoising more than others,” Wolff explained.
“And because of the bouncing, we are not able to run it where it should run. That has huge ramifications on the set-up, on the tyre grip etc. One is interlinked to the other, and I think if we were to get on top of the porpoising we would unlock much more in terms of performance on the car.
“If we don’t get on top of that then there is a more conventional development path that we have not yet taken, and I want to give us the time to really properly make a decision.”
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Source: TalkSport.com Motorsport
