One of the main issues that plagued Mercedes during last season could be fixed for their 2023 challenger. Mercedes was one of the teams that suffered the most from the porpoising phenomenon, which induced a lot of bouncing through high speed corners in the W13. But after running in the W14 for the first 69 laps during the morning Bahrain test session, George Russell reported that there was "no bouncing" according to Toto Wolff. "He was generally happy with the car, it seems to be balanced in the right way," he told media, including RacingNews365.com . "There's no bouncing, which is good news apart from the big bump at the end of the straight. A good starting point. "We're gathering a lot of data because that was important to correlate, obviously after last year and trying different things. So, a productive first morning."
Wolff: Solid base to work from with W14
Wolff acknowledges that the team was "in trouble" this time last year due to the bouncing caused by the porpoising, but now believes they have a "solid base" to work from to optimise their car setup. "We knew that we were in trouble because the car was just bouncing around and we really weren't able to drive it correctly. "I think we have a solid base now to work from and try to optimise the car, which we haven't done yet. "It's really just finding out are there any areas that could be a real performance hindrance, like last year with the bouncing, and now we've just got to work through the programme." Wolff continued to say that the team was "busy" at work over the winter, but the team is generally happy after completing their first laps during the morning test session. He added: "The winter was busy and the mood in the camp is great. We are really feeling the buzz and the excitement going back racing."
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