Lewis Hamilton has admitted he is “praying” after the seven-time champion highlighted a fresh concern for Mercedes at the Belgian Grand Prix. The Silver Arrows driver revealed that the team’s bouncing had returned in a major step back for the German marque.
Porpoising issues plagued the team last year but the squad were confident they had solved the problems with their W14. However, Hamilton warned bosses the issue had returned at Spa as he weighed in on a difficult weekend for the squad.
He told Sky Sports F1: “It was kind of a non-eventful race. There wasn’t much going on and I wasn’t able to keep up with the cars ahead of me. Struggled at the beginning, rear end is our biggest issue and we had big bouncing this weekend so we were back to the bouncing like we had last year.
”“At the end I was keeping the Ferrari within a few seconds but I couldn’t get any closer to battle and to get the fastest lap at the end, it was nice to have the gap to the car behind. The last lap was decent.”
When pushed on whether the team had worked out what was behind the bouncing, Hamilton added: “They don’t know. To me it is a concern but we’ll work through the data this week and try and figure out what we do for the next race. I know what I want, I’m praying for it and I’m just waiting for the day we get it.”
Hamilton dropped down just one position from his starting place with Max Verstappen cruising past early on. But the 38-year-old was unable to challenge Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez for a podium position.
Mercedes appeared to enjoy a resurgence since ditching their zero-pod concept at the Monaco Grand Prix. The team secured a double podium finish at the Spanish Grand Prix while Hamilton has picked up two extra top-three finishes.
But they came under threat from McLaren at Silverstone and Budapest before being edged out by Ferrari in Belgium. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff appeared dejected after the race but felt there was still a glimmer of hope for Hamilton and George Russell.
He explained: “Not great, The car was okay, It was a track that we were really not good last year but you are going into the summer at least now… We are on the right trajectory.”
