Hamilton’s Mercedes Setup Woes: Rear Grip and Bouncing Issues

Lewis Hamilton struggled with rear grip and bouncing as Mercedes setup issues hindered his performance, intensifying challenges in varying track conditions.

Mercedes F1 drivers experienced vastly different weekends in Brazil, as evidenced by the contrasting performances of their cars. George Russell raced towards the front in wet conditions, excelling in both qualifying and the race. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton struggled with a car so rigid and bouncy that he likened it to the challenging setup he encountered in Baku 2022.

Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, explained that the team was unable to provide the seven-time world champion with adequate rear grip in his W15, largely due to setup differences between the two cars.

“Normally, you can achieve that,” Shovlin said. “We allow the drivers flexibility with their setups. They don’t have to drive in the same way, and we let them evolve with their own configurations. Often, when one setup works well, we take elements from it, if not the entire setup, and apply them to the other car.”

He continued, “In this case, it’s fair to say that Lewis was mainly wrestling with a lack of rear grip. If we examine how his car was set up, it’s not immediately clear where that issue stemmed from.”

“In a Sprint race, the moment you’re dealing with reduced grip and experiencing oversteer out of corners, it generates more heat, which in turn exacerbates the issue.”

“As with any race, we spend a significant amount of time poring over data to understand what’s going on. Lewis’s engineering team will work with him on this issue, aiming to ensure we resolve it before Vegas.”

Shovlin noted that the lack of preparation for varying conditions may have worsened Hamilton’s struggles. “The other factor over the weekend was that conditions were very different. Qualifying and the Sprint race were dry and very hot, whereas the main qualifying session and the Grand Prix were wet.”

“We didn’t have the rhythm in the sessions to evolve the setups and understand how to get the best from the car. This wasn’t the cause of the problem, but it certainly made it harder for him to achieve the setup he wanted for the race.”