© Sam Bloxham for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Lewis Hamilton says back in 2022 Mercedes “had to take something like 90 points of downforce off the car, so we had downforce but we couldn’t utilise it because the thing was going and bouncing”.
Since the new ground-effect Formula 1 rules kicked in, back in 2022, Mercedes has been on the back foot. Unfortunately, they still haven’t been able to come to grips with their issues.
Lewis Hamilton already experienced a difficult start to a new regulations era back in 2009 with McLaren, however, he explains the situation was different back then.
“Well, 2009 was probably the last time we knew that was not particularly a great car initially,” the Briton said.
“But we knew what that was, they just designed the car with too little downforce and set the targets too low.
“During this era, I mean, it’s been really interesting to see the tools in which the team have had to develop to understand the flow structures underneath the floor. So much more technical and complex than the previous generation of car.
“And when you’re seeing these images that they’re able to create now, you can see where the flow structures are going.
“But then having the correlation between the wind tunnel and CFD to the actual track and the different surfaces that we’re going to, it’s quite interesting to see and you understand why it’s so difficult to get it to work.
“And then the stiffness of the tyres, stiffness of the suspension, roll, all these different things and all these different positions that you put the car through and yaw and all those different things.
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“I think we’re constantly facing an uphill battle.”
Lewis then explained what prevented Mercedes from extracting the full potential from their first two iterations of the new regulations cars.
“I think, the Red Bulls fixed it pretty much on their first test in Bahrain last year.
“They just managed to fix it and then I think once the issue was gone, you could just build from then on as well.
“The first race in 2022 or test, we had to take something like 90 points of downforce off the car. So we had downforce but we couldn’t utilise it because the thing was going and bouncing.
“So we lost a huge amount of performance and every time we add more or try and add it back, back then, then the thing would bounce again.
“So every time we take one or two steps forward, it’d take five back. It’s been hugely frustrating, I think, for the engineers. But I think what’s been inspiring is that they’ve just not given up.
“They’re continuing to show up every day and give it their best and that’s all you can ever ask,” Hamilton concluded.
