Onboard footage shows just how awful to drive Hamilton & Russell's Mercedes car really is
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell continued to struggle to compete on Friday afternoon as the Mercedes Formula 1 car looked even more bouncy on the wet Imola track.
New rules and regulations brought trials and tribulations for Mercedes which has seen the biggest downfall in competitiveness this season.
The now well-known term ‘porpoising’ has been a major issue to tackle for all the teams, but many have been able to minimise the effects and push ahead.
That has not been the case for Mercedes, though, as their car starts to bounce at lower speeds than their rivals and gives their two star drivers’ heads a never-ending wobble.
In Friday’s qualifying session at Imola, the rain and cool weather made heating up tyres much harder, something which Mercedes already have problems with.
Due to their porpoising problem, the team is forced to use a big rear ride height to make the car at least somewhat drivable, but it takes away a lot of downforce.
Cold tyres and low downforce is an unfortunate combination and the pace of the Mercedes was visibly hurting as a result.
An incredible five red flags and unpredictable weather throughout the session made every tactical decision crucial, with Hamilton advancing from Q1 by mere four-thousandths of a second due to only using tyres for wet conditions.
It was the first time in the V6 turbo-hybrid era, which started in 2014, that Mercedes failed to have at least one car in Q3, showing just how far they’ve fallen from the top.
Former Mercedes driver and world champion Nico Rosberg was in disbelief at the sight of the bouncing Mercedes and predicted that they wouldn’t get past Q2, something that came to fruition later in the day.
Time will tell if perhaps the FIA will step in and do something


