- Mercedes driver George Russell has disclosed a new problem that Mercedes has
- He is not worried though because team engineers are on it
- He is optimistic of a good season more than 2022
The new 2023 Mercedes W14 which Lewis Hamilton and teammate George Russell will drive this season has a design problem which is its mid-corner not being balanced.
However, Russell feels that this design problem in the Mercedes W14 2022 challenger is not as serious as the purporising issues the W13 had in 2023.
The team engineers, according to Russell, have taken note of this problem and are optimistic that they will find a solution to it.
“I think it’s no secret when you’re watching the onboard videos that we are struggling a little bit with the balance, struggling a lot in the mid-corner. But I think it’s a balance that is probably easier to solve than what we had last year. So even though there’s still a limitation, let’s say it’s a good problem to have,” he told Motorsports.
The Silver Arrows are upbeat of their performance so far at the pre-season testing in Bahrain. The vehicle has no other issues except the unbalanced mid-corner.
George Russell. Photo/Planet F1
In the 2022 pre-season testing held in Barcelona, the W13 was plagued by porpoising which was the case throughout the entire season.
Although Mercedes is yet to record the fastest time in Bahrain, it has made a tremendous effort to improve performance in a bid to get to the top once more.
Russel finished second on day 3 of the preseason testing. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished first with 67 points.
While 20222 wasn’t the best year for Mercedes, Russell in his opinion says his first victory in Brazil was the highlight of the 2022 season.
The Brit managed to outperform seven-time world champion Hamilton and delivered the Silver Arrows’ lone victory of the 2022 campaign.
His victory at the Brazil Grand Prix in Sao Paolo in 2022, turned around the fortunes of his team which was at the time plagued by bouncing issues on the W13.
Although the 25-year-old British finished ahead of the seven-time world champion in the drivers’ standings at the year’s end, he feels that his victory in Brazil was much more significant for him and his team.
With the 2023 circuit just about to start, Russell is optimistic that he will do much better this year than last year.
George Russell. Photo/Marca
Meanwhile, Hamilton disclosed that he hated driving the W13 in 2022. He says that he was sick and tired of the porpoising problems he experienced, particularly in the first half of the season. The engineering issues with this car denied him a championship title for the second year in a row.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sped to his second consecutive title and set the record for most victories in a season. Hamilton finished at a distant sixth after Carlos Sainz, George Russell, Sergio Perez, and Charles Leclerc.
The 37-year-old revealed there were times throughout the year when he did not love driving his car for competition in a series of images reflecting on the season alongside fellow Brit Russell.
He says there are moments when he was frustrated because the car couldn’t do what he wanted when he needed it to perform. It bounced a lot (porpoise), an issue Mercedes engineers couldn’t solve in good time.
Russell recounts there were instances when Hamilton had to contend with the bouncing, and it caused him actual discomfort. The worst of all remains the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he was seen having difficulty getting out of the vehicle.
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