Mercedes is aware of being in trouble: the W13 did not impress in the first free practice session of the Bahrain GP. Despite having worn Pirelli soft tires with both cars, that is to say those with a softer cheek, the drivers were unable to extract the performance they expected from the silver arrow.
The congenital problems that were seen in the Sakhir tests last week, at least for the moment, have not been resolved.
George Russell’s helmet, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Erik Junius
Lewis Hamilton was able to benefit from a significantly modified bottom in the lateral trailing edge, while George Russell rode with the standard version and at the end of the session the modified versions fared worse than the original one, a sign that Brackley had lost their way of racing. development.
Mercedes W13: the two funds that have been tried in the tests
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
As we had anticipated on Motorsport.com, most likely the Brackley team has lost the correlation of some simulation data with the track and, therefore, continues to suffer like no other from porpoising, the aerodynamic pumping generated at high speeds because the stationary forces generate a thrust towards the asphalt which is greater than the capacity of the suspension to absorb that force, so that the elastic elements blocked at the end of their travel cause an upward thrust and the subsequent hopping.
The problem seems less evident than in the tests, but it does not allow the drivers to grasp the true potential of the W13-mini: on Lewis’s car a long cut was made in the trailing edge in the central portion of the bottom, in order to vent air and limit porpoising, keeping the car with a minimum height from the ground.
In front of the rear wheel, in addition to the tie rod granted to the teams by the FIA, there was a metal reinforcement that had to stiffen the bottom in the most flexible area, but the interventions seemed vain, so much so that the W13 threw out a sea of sparks.
It will be interesting to see in the second round which bottom Mercedes will want to use: it is likely that it will return to the standard solution and to improve the behavior of the car it could raise the ground clearance: there will be a loss of load, but maybe it will be possible to manage porpoising.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
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