Mercedes have brought a series of upgrades for their car this weekend but Lewis Hamilton says they are unlikely to transform its performance.
Mercedes will run changes to their diffuser, sidepod inlets and lower rear deflector endplates at this weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
The team have languished up to one second per lap off their rivals in the opening races of 2022. They have suffered especially from the ‘porpoising’ problem which has affected most teams to different degrees.
Some of the changes Mercedes will run this weekend are aimed at altering the performance of the diffuser, which has a strong influence on the ‘porpoising’ effect. Hamilton said he isn’t expecting a drastic change in the car’s performance as a result of the updates but “every time I get in the car I’m hoping that it’ll feel better.”
“Ultimately it’s fundamentally still the same car,” he continued. “I know everybody in the factory has been working hard over Easter to try to bring event the smallest bits of improvement to the car. We don’t have anything that’s ground-breaking that’s going to change our result but I hope that we do move slightly forward.”
After three of 23 planned races this year, Hamilton remains confident Mercedes will solve their problems with the W13.
“There’s a long way to go. You’ve seen in the previous year how much happens in a season. Still so many races to go, there’s still time for us to turn this around, there’s still time for us to fix this car and extract the full potential. I know that all the team are working flat-out to try to achieve that.”
Team principal Toto Wolff recently put the team’s chances of winning the championship this year at “two to eight”. Hamilton agrees their victory prospects are increasingly remote.
“I’m no mathematician so I don’t know what the percentage chances are but it’s definitely tough, it’s a tall order, that’s for sure.”
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