Toto Wolff, the head of the Mercedes F1 team, revealed that the W13’s popping in the first free practice session of the F1 Emilia Romagna GP was so serious that George Russell’s car floorstay was broken.
The Mercedes W13 suffered from popping problems, but even with wet imola, the bouncing was terrible, revealing that the driver might not cross the main straight without a lift-off in front of the Tamburello chicane braking zone.
But the real problem is the tire warm-up, which creates a big gap with Ferrari, Toto Wolff explains.
George Russell’s car was witnessed porpoising as he approached Tamburello on Friday’s free practice. W13 bounced so hard that sparks flew every time it hit the ground.
In a conversation with Sky Sports F1 at the end of FP1, Toto Wolff said, “George’s bouncing was fierce and the floor stay was actually broken.”
“I can’t drive on the main straight. I have to lift off on the straight.”
Mercedes F1 installed a metal floor stay on the W13 for the first time at the end of the Barcelona test. It was removed in the Bahrain test, which introduced the “Zero Pod” with a significantly different design.
At that time, in Spain, these parts were not allowed by regulation, but the FIA subsequently allowed them to be included in the design. This stay is intended to strengthen the floor and prevent it from bending and stall at the maximum speed that causes popping.
Toto Wolff revealed that George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are also experiencing unique popping in Imola. Backing off at other circuits is also sacrificing time.
“They are training. I have never experienced such bouncing in my life,” says Toto Wolff.
“But it’s obviously not drivable.”
Ferrari, the leader of the championship, is still facing problems at the start of the season due to popping in shakedowns and pre-season tests, but unlike Mercedes, it has not lost its pace. Sometimes it looks like it’s bouncing badly, but its up and down movements are slow and it looks like it’s being dealt with.
“Their porpoising looks a little different from ours,” Toto Wolff said.
“Our frequency looks high, but the main difference is that the car is stable when the brakes are applied. Our car is not stable.”
George Russell finished almost five seconds later than pacesetter Charles Leclerc in FP1, Lewis Hamilton was another two seconds behind, and the pair finished the session in 10th and 18th, respectively.
However, Toto Wolff believes that the big gap with the actual Ferrari is “heating the tires to get grip”.
“Ferrari seemed to unlock the tires. It’s faster than anyone else.”
“The feedback we get from Lewis and George is that there is literally zero grip and these gaps point to the tires.”
“If you can unlock the problem, you can make a leap, but you don’t know where you can go.”
“I think there’s a lot of discrepancy in performance and we’ll see if we’re really late in qualifying late Friday.”
“We were five seconds behind the pace. It’s neither a car nor a driver.”
Lewis Hamilton in particular had a hard time gripping the intermediate tires, but Toto Wolff said “a slight difference in the rear wing” and “only the tire pressure is different” regarding the difference between the two Mercedes in FP1. Except, he said there was no major setup difference between the two W13s.
Category: Category: F1 / George Russell / Mercedes / F1 Emilia Romagna GP
