"We're trying to tame her" - Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton 'not quite happy' with their W13 car

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that it is difficult to "tame" the W13 with its porpoising issues. The British driver suggested their car was too bouncy around the Bahrain circuit as compared to Barcelona. The team, however, did introduce a radically different concept in Bahrain which hasn’t been able to function as expected.

Commenting on the struggles with the Mercedes W13, Hamilton said:

“Yeah, it’s tough. I mean, you can see on the on-board, tank-slappers left, right and centre. You’re bouncing and bumping and it’s not quite happy at the moment. But we’re trying to tame her.”

According to the Mercedes driver, the onboard evidence from the car is evidence of the bouncing experience around the Bahrain circuit. The British champion revealed that are trying to control the handling of the car, especially with the porpoising phenomenon affecting most of the 2022 cars.

Comparing throttle traces between the Briton’s quickest lap on the second day of the test and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s quickest lap, it is understood that Mercedes have the power in the straights but are struggling through the corners.

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Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes have a lot of work to do to contain their struggles

The seven-time world champion explained that Mercedes have had porpoising issues, and the windy conditions at the Bahrain circuit have made the bouncing worse. Explaining that they are trying to work out various setups and scenarios to optimize their performance, the Briton believes they had lesser bouncing issues in the test week in Barcelona.

Elaborating the bouncing issue at the Bahrain circuit, Lewis Hamilton said:

“It’s the wind, it is the bouncing that we have. We still have that this week, and if anything it’s worse. So we’re just working through lots of different scenarios, trying to figure out how to hold on to the downforce and not have it bouncing as it was in the last test.”

Although Ferrari have suggested that Mercedes might be faking their struggles, the seven-time world champion refuted the claims and suggested it was difficult to fake the oversteer on the car. Following the test times on the second day in Bahrain, the Mercedes drivers racked up decent mileage but were classified 5th and 13th on the timesheets.