A slight weight issue for Lewis Hamilton in Australia

In order to gather more information about the behavior of the W13 on the track and understand how to definitively solve the porpoising issue, Mercedes has added a few additional sensors on Lewis Hamilton’s car chassis.

While most teams only used its sensors during practice sessions, the German team chose to keep them during the race, even though they would add some weight to the car. The strategy director of Mercedes, James Vowles, explained the reasons for this rather surprising choice.

« On a normal year, you wouldn’t even think about using sensors on the car, Vowles admitted. « You would add what you need to make sure you understand what’s going on. But obviously, this isn’t a normal year and the car is overweight. In terms of operation between the two cars, there are thousands of components that make each of George and Lewis’s race cars, and these components don’t weigh exactly the same, he explained.

Vowles explained that the weight difference between the two cars during the race was minimal and highlighted Lewis Hamilton’s fantastic work with the sensors. Thanks to this, Mercedes was able to collect more information to improve the W13 of both drivers.

Lewis Hamilton uttered words whose meaning we don’t really know during the race: « You put me in a difficult situation,” he exclaimed halfway through the race, seeing his teammate ahead of him.

In an interview with Canal+ and Laurent Dupin, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion did not want to specify. He could therefore be referring to this difference in weight, just as he could have believed that it was his team that favored George Russell at that moment in the race. History does not specify (yet).