Formula 1: Mercedes and Hamilton’s “unmanageable” W13 wants to be together again at the Miami Grand Prix

After dominating Formula 1 for the last eight years, with eight constructor titles and seven driver titles (losing one last year in the controversial final lap of the final date in Dubai), Mercedes is rolling in unspecified territory this season. In his worst start to the championship since the start of the hybrid era in 2014, he still hasn’t been able to unleash the full potential of his new car and paid for it dearly: just two podiums on four dates – with Lewis Hamilton first, in Bahrain , and George Russell in third, in Australia – and just 77 points (47 less than ferrariwho comes first, and 36 less than red bullsecond).

both toto wolff, Executive director of the German team, after the last race, in Imola, admitted that the car was “unmanageable”. But the team is convinced it can spin and hopes to bring some changes to the track this weekend to take a step in the right direction. And although some point out that Miami Grand Prix This may be the last time to lead the recovery, the Austrian said he was not ready to give up the new W13 project.

The main problem of silver arrows it is porpoising, the bounce that forms in cars at high speeds, especially on straight ones, as a result of the ground effect. To alleviate this phenomenon, which makes driving difficult and annoying to drivers, the team was forced to set the car higher than the original design. And by increasing it, you will lose a lot of downforce and as a result performance decreases.

“The fundamental flaw that overshadows everything is that the car has more porpoising than the others. So we can’t drive it as low as we should, and that has ramifications on set-up, tire grip, et cetera, everything. It’s related , ”Wolff reviewed last week.

“If we were able to solve porpoising, we would unlock a lot more features. Otherwise, there are conventional developments that we haven’t explored yet. But I want us to take some time before deciding,” he added.

Wolff believes the changes they’ve worked on in recent weeks could be critical to making the car perform better. In Miami they will be putting new parts and some updates on the car floor, which they hope will show them if they are “moving in the right direction”. But in Mercedes workshops they know the problem can’t be solved overnight.

“These are new problems for us, we have to overcome them and understand them. Every day I think we are improving. A lot of the work done at Brackley is to understand the phenomenon and whether we can control it. , if we can get it out of the car. Is there an aerodynamic solution we can put in the car that will eliminate this problem? ” Andrew Shovlinengineering team director.

“It’s going to be something we’re going to take one step at a time, instead of taking one big step and it’s all done. We think in Miami we can start to see progress on that. And if that gets we get a hint that we’re really getting to the bottom of what’s going on, then we’ll be glad, ”he added.

At Mercedes they don’t want to rush and aim to continue finding a solution that allows them to take advantage of the full potential of the W13. But time is running out and the pressures to “go back to being” are getting greater and some tensions are starting to be felt within the team, although externally, from Wolff to Hamilton they avoid blaming each other. and work -oriented.

Perhaps that perseverance also has something to do with its impact on the budget – more limited than last year – to make a “clean record” and start from scratch with a new design.

“We didn’t change the concept, we continued with the narrow body (NdR: Mercedes sides, with virtually non-existent pontoons, are one of the most aggressive concepts on the grid). If we do something different, it can really go against the spending ceiling, ”Wolff said.“ But I’ll say the concept isn’t wrong, you don’t have to throw away what works, but work on areas where that can be improved. . ”

Mercedes is not losing hope and wants to give the team time to find the W13 lap. But if Miami doesn’t see an improvement in performance, will the Austrian team decide to go for a more radical change of course?

Wolff, in defense of Hamilton

Although Mercedes suffered from the poor performance of the two cars, Lewis Hamilton suffered more on the track from W13 problems than his teammate George Russell, who despite all finished in the top 5 in four races and fourth in the championship. , with 49 points. The seven -time champion, on the other hand, was seventh, with only 28 (58 less than Charles Leclerc, head of the championship) and on the final date, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prixfinished 13th (after spending the entire race unsuccessfully trying to overcome Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasley), with no points and one lap behind defending champion Max Verstappen, won that race and where he fought for the title until the end last year.

These various facts have caused the F1 environment to start pointing to Hamilton as part of the problem. “Mercedes is to blame and that’s brilliant, but it’s not entirely true. Lewis played a big role in the poor result at Imola, because Russell was fourth, so more on that car,” he said. German Nico Rosberg. , former ally of the seven -time champion at Mercedes and now a commentator for Sky TV.

toto wolff, however, spoke in defense of his pilot. “I have to protect him, it’s not his bad moment, it’s the car’s bad moment. We know he won seven world championships, last year we fought for a title that was lost on Saturday in Brazil. He’s the best driver in the world and he doesn’t have a machine or equipment to carry it out.It doesn’t matter if he finishes in the eighth, 12th or 15th, it doesn’t matter.It’s all wrong.But it happens to all the stars. we are together, for good and for evil “, the Austrian assertion.

The Briton, meanwhile, has come out at the crossroads of claims in recent weeks that perhaps he should have retired after last season, among them Helmut Marko, the Red team’s ever-controversial adviser. Bull.

“Working on my masterpiece, I will be the one to decide when it will be finished,” his Instagram account wrote last week, along with a photo surrounded by tires and car parts.

After the disappointing result in Imola, he warned: “I have nowhere else I want to go. Just because we went through a difficult patch, I don’t have the spirit to go back. We can fix it, it will be a painful year but it will be over. let’s do it. ” together “.