Lewis Hamilton rued a repeat of the same struggles that plagued Mercedes last season in Saudi Arabia despite admitting that its 2024 Formula 1 car has potential.
Hamilton has struggled throughout the entire weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and didn’t end up higher than eighth place across the three practice sessions.
The seven-time champion had complained that he was struggling with rear-end grip, prompting him to trial a more loaded rear-wing option in the final practice hour.
But despite opting to revert to a lower-downforce configuration, Hamilton revealed that problems with bouncing cost him as he wound up eighth,
“We were struggling with the car yesterday, and in FP3 I wasn’t really much happier with the car with the bigger wing, slightly bigger wing as that was costing is down the straights, but that gained me some stability back, much, much happier with,” Hamilton explained.
“I thought we’d carry that into qualifying but, unfortunately, with the bouncing, it made it very, very difficult to push in that first sector, that’s why we were so slow in the first sector.”
Mercedes has been the most notable team to suffer from the porpoising that has existed with the latest ground effect cars since their introduction back in 2022.
George Russell blamed the bouncing on the error which prevented him from improving, admitting that Mercedes might have to compromise on ground clearance.
Pressed on how frustrating it was that the issue had restricted Mercedes’ competitiveness the last two seasons, Hamilton said: “It is what it is… and it’s three years…”
But the Briton remained defiant in his assessment that the German marque had succeeded in its aim to produce a more compliant base with its overhauled W15 car.
“If you took that [the bouncing] away, the car is really so much better than last year’s in every area,” he said. “It’s just that what’s causing us some really big problems.
“In the second and third sector we were a lot closer [to the competition], closer through all the rest of the corners, but just that first sector, it’s the same as last year.”
With his eighth place in Jeddah marking a position improvement on his effort last week in Bahrain, Hamilton concedes that his one-lap form hasn’t been good enough.
“I mean, I’ve qualified ninth and eighth, so I’ve had two horrendous qualifying sessions, so I think tomorrow I’m just going to try and score some points,” he assessed.
“It is what it is, we’re not [in the] fight at the front, so I’ll try and grab as many points as I can.”
Hamilton denied that he would take risks to make up ground in the race, citing he doesn’t “want to lose the team some points, so I’ll see. If there’s a window, then I’ll go for it.”
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