George Russell almost doing a ‘wheelie’ in Monaco with stiff Mercedes W13

Such is the stiffness of the 2022 cars, George Russell said a lap of Monaco in practice regularly involved wheels leaving the track.

The tight, twisting Monaco street circuit has always been the ultimate test of a driver, but a different feel was expected when Formula 1 arrived in the Principality for 2022 with the heavier, bulky new challengers.

Over at Mercedes, the W13 was proving quite a handful, Russell’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton describing Monaco now as the “bumpiest track I’ve ever driven” after FP2.

The stern suspension of the W13 played a large part in the bumpy ride, as opposed to the porpoising phenomenon which has largely been to blame at previous rounds this season.

Russell would explain just how profound the experience was, the Brit often forced to abandon the four-wheel approach.

“Really tricky. To be honest, the stiffness of these cars are stiff, very, very stiff, around a bumpy street circuit,” Russell told reporters.

“It’s not easy to put it on the limit and I think that’s one of the biggest difficulties.

“You have got to give it a bit more respect than you would do ordinarily, because the car is constantly just smashed against the floor. We’ve experienced a lot of that this year but this is a very different philosophy and reasoning for the bouncing.

“There are sections where both of the tyres are off the ground, like Turn 5, front right up in the air and that is so stiff, even the front left is popping up off the ground as well. So you know, it’s points you are almost like doing a wheelie because you haven’t got front wheels on the ground. So yes, tricky.

“I don’t know what more we can do to car, we did everything we can to try and make it a bit easier for us and to give us a bit more confidence. But you know, the guys and gals are gonna work hard overnight and see what we can do for tomorrow.”

No place like it. 🇲🇨👌 pic.twitter.com/qnnXWWGJiy

— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) May 27, 2022