Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Monaco, 2022

Stiff set-up made Hamilton’s Mercedes “undriveable” in practice – Wolff

2022 Monaco Grand Prix

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Toto Wolff says a stiff suspension set-up used on the Mercedes W13 during first practice was responsible for the severe vibrations Lewis Hamilton complained about.

Hamilton ended the first hour of practice for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix with the tenth fastest time of the session. He complained several times about the excessive bouncing he was suffering around the Monte Carlo street circuit.

While Mercedes have a well-documented problem with porpoising at high speed with their new ground-effect car for the 2022 season, team principal Toto Wolff told Sky that Hamilton’s difficulties today were caused by the car’s stiff suspension settings.

“I think we have a ride issue,” said Wolff. “There’s something that we’ve had through the season and it’s on the bouncing. Sometimes it’s a combination between aero and stiffness – today it’s the stiffness.”

Wolff believes that if the team can find a solution to their ride problems, they will be able to demonstrate that they have a “good” car in Monaco this weekend.

“It looks like that our car performs, because we were quick,” Wolff said. “Maybe not at the end, where we had the hard tyre on and we did the long runs. Overall I think it’s a good car, but it’s just undriveable like this.”

The team will try to make their car more comfortable for their drivers, Wolff said, by working on their set up over the coming two practice sessions. “I think [we will] work on the set-up, trying to make it a little bit more enjoyable for them,” he said.

Hamilton asked race engineer Peter Bonnington for elbow pads to be installed in his cockpit to help him cope with the vibrations in the car. Wolff joked that, “if it’s fast, we’ll make him all the pads he needs.

“We’re coming closer in any case, learning more and more,” Wolff added. “So that’s positive.”

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2022 Monaco Grand Prix

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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10 comments on “Stiff set-up made Hamilton’s Mercedes “undriveable” in practice – Wolff”

  1. It did look like it had all the graceful manoeuvrability of a supermarket trolley packed with Xmas booze, rushing to the checkout.

    1. Oddly specific. We’re coming to your place for the holidays.

      1. @dmw I guess so :o)
        Actually I’ve only packed a trolley like that once, and that was for a wedding.

      2. Hahahaha!

  2. Even from video of the car in the early races, Mercedes has been running very stiff. On a street circuit ..??? Not going to be a comfortable ride.
    Just wait till they get to Montreal. The Heave-Spring will take on real meaning, or maybe that should be spring-heave.?
    Will be interesting to see how (or if) they resolve this. Surprising that they started out today with the stiff set-up.

  3. Only Hamilton had this stiff suspension? I think Russell car was softer.

    1. Tiago Esteves
      27th May 2022, 19:01

      well they now have two drivers so it’s plausible that both had different settings, to understand which one is better.

  4. Its Friday so no surprise. Mercedes is once again using the Fridays to experiment and gather data. This is the only way they can get track time to develop the car, so this weeks its suspension and car stiffness. Hamilton is once again Mercedes chief test driver, whilst Russell only things of his own advancement. If the car is ever to improve it needs at least one driver to be commited to its development. Que their most experianced man.

    You can read it all here:

    https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-autosport/1615563/Lewis-Hamilton-sacrifice-theory-George-Russell-Mercedes-F1-news

    1. It would be the first time in history that a driver is testing things but is moaning constantly really.

      1. Giving feedback be it negative or positive is feedback. Not moaning. Or would you rather him have the bouncy car and he tells his engineer “No no! Its all good…!”

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