Mattia Binotto claims he does not understand why Mercedes have been hit harder than Ferrari by porpoising. The Scuderia's severe bouncing during pre-season testing in Barcelona brought the paddock's attention to the phenomenon, but Mercedes have struggled more with the effects. After falling behind the leaders in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have found themselves unable to run at full speed during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend due to the porpoising being too extreme. As a result, both drivers finished outside the points in Saturday's Sprint race at Imola, placing down in P11 and P14 respectively. Ferrari - who will have two cars in the top four for the start of Sunday's main Grand Prix - are suffering from porpoising themselves, but continue to power through the problem to challenge for regular pole positions and race wins.
Ferrari and Mercedes contrast remains a mystery
While the Mercedes cars bounce along the straights and through the corners, Ferrari appear to have found a way to settle their F1-75 when turning. For Binotto, it remains a mystery as to why the Silver Arrows have been hurt so badly by porpoising, even though he believes that Ferrari could go even faster without it. "I don't know why the others are not as quick as we are with porpoising. But it's true that we are still suffering with it," said Binotto, speaking to members of the media, including RacingNews365.com . "We put some actions on the car to try to mitigate it, but it's not yet addressed and solved. "But it's always a compromise between trying to solve it and giving up some performance, while maybe in the meantime you have to have some porpoising to get the best out of your car."
Binotto: Certain upgrades will bring the cure
Mercedes remain confident that they will eventually cure their porpoising problems, with upgrades expected to aid them over the coming race weekends. And it is updates that will prove to be the answer, according to Binotto, with Ferrari set to trial their own soon. "We are certainly trying to develop the car in order to address it, definitely, because it's not the best situation, certainly for a driver, to drive and to somehow attack corners without getting there, and braking with such porpoising," he added. "But why the others are suffering more than us? I don't know. Is it true or not? I don't know. Is that down to the porpoising or not? I don't know."
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