Mercedes struggles with a rough track during the Friday sessions of Formula 1 in Monaco. This causes problems for Lewis Hamilton in particular.
“We want to be the best of the rest this weekend,” says Mercedes driver George Russell. The Silver Arrows know that under normal circumstances they shouldn’t stand a chance against Ferrari and Red Bull in Monaco.
This was also shown in free practice on Friday, with Russell finishing sixth and team-mate Lewis Hamilton twelfth.
The seven-time world champion in particular had a hard time struggling on Friday – albeit less with the car than with the track. “The car bounces pretty hard,” he says.
“It’s Different Bouncing”
However, this is less due to porpoising, which the Silver Arrows seem to have gotten under control recently. “It’s different bouncing,” says Hamilton. One that is related to the course in Monaco.
“It’s probably the most uneven track I’ve ever ridden on,” says Hamilton, speaking of the “uneven roller coaster ride of all time.” He felt like he got 100 hits on a single straight. “Your eyes will fall out of their sockets,” he says clearly. “I don’t know if the others feel the same way.”
This was probably also the reason for his braking mistakes, like the one in the Mirabeau curve, where he drove into the run-off zone with smoking tyres. “The car is just put on,” says Hamilton. And this theory is supported by Russell.
Almost like a wheelie
“There are places where both tires are in the air. In turn 5, the right front wheel is up and everything is so stiff that the left front wheel also loses contact with the ground,” says Russell. “You almost do a wheelie because there’s no front wheel left on the ground.”
All of this made it difficult for Hamilton in particular to get a lap together: “I’m just struggling with the car,” he says. “I can’t remember ever having experienced anything like this.”
The Monaco experience is therefore not really nice for him when he thinks of his early years: “Back then we had a really light and agile car. It was so much nicer to drive here,” he says. “And now we have these super heavy cars.”
“I’m not saying it’s not fun. But I just couldn’t put together great lap times. The best laps really were in the first practice session. We study the data and then see how we can improve the waves. I’m hoping for a better day tomorrow,” Hamilton said.
Battle with McLaren
Because actually the car feels to him as if it has the potential to be almost at the front of Ferrari and Red Bull. “But there are just these things that prevent us,” said the Englishman. “Our fight will be to stay ahead of the McLaren.”
Especially with the high rigidity of the cars, the W13 doesn’t seem to get along as well as Ferrari, for example, who were able to get the best time in both sessions. “Ferrari shines again. We saw at Imola how good they are over the curbs,” says Russell. “They’re just over there with ease, and of course that’s playing into their hands at the moment.”
As a result, Russell is not sure whether Mercedes can close the gap at the very front overnight. He rather has his sights set on McLaren, who finished ahead of Mercedes thanks to Lando Norris. “We’re not where we want to be,” Russell admits. “We want to be the best of the rest. That would be a fair result this weekend.”
“But we have to make sure that a cheeky little Lando doesn’t get in the way.”
There are also positives at Mercedes
At least there are also some positive things to report. According to senior race engineer Andrew Shovlin, the tires at Mercedes get into the right window quite easily, and Hamilton’s time is not entirely representative: “Lewis had a couple of occasions when he was blocked, so we can add a little more,” says he.
The pace on the long run was also quite good. “We seemed to have less tire degradation than some others,” says Shovlin, but puts it into perspective: “But this is Monaco, where the long runs don’t count for much when you’re stuck in traffic.”
“There’s a lot we need to work on overnight, but if we can make progress on a few of those issues we should be able to find a little more pace.”