Explaining Merc's F1 crisis: What's gone wrong? Will Hamilton stay?

It wasn't supposed to be like this. And nobody saw it coming.

Months after Lewis Hamilton was cruelly and controversially denied a record eighth world championship on the very last lap of the very last race of the 2021 season, Formula 1's most successful driver and his juggernaut Mercedes team find themselves mired in an unexpected crisis.

Without even a sniff of a win from the first four races and suffering his worst start since 2009, Hamilton has already ruled himself out of the championship battle given Mercedes' lack of pace while - with George Russell having started stronger - there have also been retirement questions posed at the Englishman.

Just what is going on?

Let's delve into all the key topics - both on and off the track - surrounding F1's powerhouse driver-team combo that have had a 2022 wake-up call.

Mercedes have seen Ferrari and Red Bull speed off into the distance at the start of 2022 and the major issue surrounds their car's aerodynamics and, to be specific, the fact it is 'porpoising' - or bouncing - more than others.

Indeed, the team that have mastered title-winning cars for the last eight seasons appear to have hit a snag with the design of their car for F1's huge rules overhaul, which many expected to speed off into the distance once an innovative 'zero-sidepod' look was unveiled at pre-season testing.

The problem is that once the car hit the track, it bounced on the track. The design they had worked on, and was fast in the simulator, led to 'porpoising', a sensation many cars have but has hit Mercedes hardest.

"Our windtunnel was telling us we had really good downforce," explained Hamilton. "And unfortunately we got on track, there was no bouncing in the windtunnel and we came across this