"There's quite some lap time we can find" - Mercedes' Toto Wolff says team working towards unlocking 'all the aerodynamic goodness’
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes that raising the ride height of their car might improve their performance.
The Austrian said the team is working on improvising their porpoising issues, which is key to unlocking the performance of their car.
Explaining the solution to the problem to Motorsport Network, Wolff said:
"We very much believe that the science we are putting in at the moment will help us to, in effect, run the car lower. It is where we believe we have all the aerodynamic goodness, but we haven't been able to unlock it because of the bottoming of the car. If we are able to get on top of that, that means there's quite some lap time we can find. If not, we need to have another idea."
The Mercedes chief believes solving the porpoising issues on the car will be key to unlocking more performance from it.
Explaining the domino effect of porpoising on the performance, Wolff stated that the bouncing caused issues with the setup, tire grip, and balance.
Suggesting that the team is actively working to resolve the issue, the 50-year-old is positive that they will be able to improvise their lap times if the problem is resolved.
"We saw with George where the car can be in free air, but it’s not good enough. Not good enough for a World Champion, not worthy of a World Champion and we just need to fix the car."
💬 "We saw with George where the car can be in free air, but it’s not good enough. Not good enough for a World Champion, not worthy of a World Champion and we just need to fix the car." https://t.co/zVzLpsaOKN
Describing the domino effect of porpoising on other performance areas, the Mercedes team boss said:
"The fundamental issue that, in a way, overshadows everything, is that our car is porpoising more than others. Because of the bouncing, we are not able to run it where it should run, and that has huge ramifications on the set-up, on the tyre grip etc, etc, etc."
"So, one is interlinked to the other. I think if we 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, there are more conventional development paths that we have not yet taken. I want to give us the time to really properly take such a decision."
After George Russell’s complaints about back and chest pains due to the porpoising effect at maximum speeds, it is important for the team to address the bouncing issues.
The extent of the damage to drivers' health due to the porpoising is serious and is going to add to the team’s dilemma to resolve the issues with urgency.
Mercedes boss believes Lewis Hamilton deserves better from the team
Toto Wolff apologized to Lewis Hamilton via team radio for the compromised package of the W13. The Silver Arrows chief tried to lift the Briton’s mood after he finished 13th in the Imola GP.
However, former Mercedes champion Nico Rosberg believes that Wolff was trying to put the blame on the team to cover for the Hamilton’s performance.
On being asked about his radio message to Hamilton after the race, the Mercedes team principal said:
"It's just the car was undriveable in the way it was undriveable before. You see the straight, the way it bounces on the main straight. I wonder how the two of them can even keep the car on the track at times. And Lewis deserves better from us. But we are a team, so we all need to do the utmost in order to provide him with a machine that is able to fight for front positions."
“We will come out of this.” ❤️
https://t.co/V0qymngGym
While his teammate Russell finished fourth, Hamilton managed a mere P13 and has ruled himself out of the championship after his current result at Imola.
Also Check Out :-F1 Schedule 2022