Motorsport News

Porpoising responsible for “99%” of Mercedes’ problems

Porpoising responsible for "99%" of Mercedes' problems

The Briton qualified sixth in Jeddah, behind the four cars of Ferrari and Red Bull, and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, and finished sixth, having no pace to match the frontrunners.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified only 16th and finished 10th, having taken a different and ultimately less optimal route with the car for qualifying.

Russell noted that a variety of parameters contribute to the porpoising that has affected Mercedes since testing, making it that much harder to resolve.

“There’s so many factors at play between the mechanical stiffness of the car and then the stiffness of the floors, the design of the floors, tyre pressures,” Russell said.

“Engine mode as well, the faster you go the worse it gets, so it makes it harder for qualifying because we turn the engines up, maximum power, go quicker down the straight which causes more downforce and causes more porpoising.

“So we almost need to pre-empt this issue and also in the race when you have the DRS closed, you have more…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – All – Stories…