Severe bouncing caused by cars bottoming out at high speeds will lead to a serious accident, says Mercedes driver and GPDA director George Russell.
Russell qualified fifth, 1.3 seconds off pole in Baku, after a session where both Mercedes drivers had been fighting with the car bottoming out and scraping the tarmac, causing violent bumping.
“The lap felt strong, the car was feeling good,” said Russell. “And it was pretty surprising when I crossed the line to see we were 1.3 seconds off the pace. For sure the bottoming’s been extreme.”
Drivers have battled from porpoising at high speeds across the first eight rounds of the 2022 season with new ground effect cars introduced this season. While many teams have found ways to reduce this phenomenon, teams run cars as low to the ground as possible, which leads to uncomfortable rides for drivers over bumps.
“We’ve kind of got on top of the porpoising issue,” Russell explained. “We’re now so close to the ground to get the maximum aerodynamic benefits and it’s just brutal out there and being shaken to pieces.
“I can barely see where to brake at the end of a straight because we’re bouncing around so much and I don’t think we’re the only car.
“I think probably half of the grid are in the same boat and frustratingly, probably Ferrari are in the same boat, but they somehow seem to make it work. So, let’s see. Everybody’s working super hard to try and resolve these issues.”
The problem was so severe on the affected cars that Russell believes a serious accident was an inevitability. “I think it’s just a matter of time before we see a major incident,” he warned.
“A lot of us can barely keep the car in a straight line over these bumps. We’re going around the last two corners at 300 kilometres an hour, bottoming out. You can visibly see on the tarmac how close the cars are running to the ground.
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