Hamilton ‘losing over a tenth to Russell on the straight’ due to bouncing

Lewis Hamilton says the poor ride Mercedes have over the bumps in Baku is costing him more time than his team mate.

Team principal Toto Wolff confirmed Hamilton’s car is in a different configuration to that of his team mate George Russell due to the experiments the team is conducting to solve the problems with its W13.

“Today I was losing over a tenth just on the straight line because of the bottoming compared to George,” said Hamilton after qualifying. “So it is what it is, we keep working on it.”

The team appeared to make progress with its porpoising problem with the upgrade it introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix. But the behaviour has returned in Baku, where the long, bumpy straights appear to have exacerbated their familiar trouble with the W13.

“I miss already Barcelona, just driving down the straight no problem,” Hamilton admitted when asked by RaceFans. He noted his former team mate Valtteri Bottas, who is now at Alfa Romeo, is not experiencing the same problem.

“When I go and talk to some of the other drivers like Valtteri, I’m like, ‘have you got any bouncing?’ He’s like, ‘no’. Wow, can you imagine how nice that would be? We’ll get there eventually.”

The bouncing is especially acute for Hamilton due to the different floor he is running on his W13 this weekend. He said he was grateful for the help of his physiotherapist Angela Cullen after practice.

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“We had so much bottoming at the end of the straight [on Friday] that I couldn’t finish my long run,” he said. “My back was a real mess.

“Thank God for Angela. I’ve got Angela giving me physio every night and acupuncture. I woke up with quite a bit of pain [on Saturday]. Now we don’t have it as bad at the end of the straight but it’s through those corners, you’re just trying to keep it out of the wall.”

He hopes the car is less punishing to drive in race trim. “With the heavy fuel hopefully it will be less, I’m hoping.

“But we are very slow on the straight. I’m sure part of that is the bottoming that slows you down every time you touch the ground. The others also have like a Monza wing I think here, so we have a lot of work to do.”

Hamilton said he is putting in all the effort he can to help the team solve the problem, and worked into the early hours of Saturday morning after the opening day of practice.

“I was here to 1:30 last night,” he said. “I’m here studying, I’m doing everything I can. I’m working with the guys back at the factory. I was at the factory two days on the sim. I’m giving everything I can, there’s not much more I can do.”

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