01/08/2023
NEWS STORY
Barely mentioned this season, Lewis Hamilton has confirmed that the bouncing problem that plagued his team in 2022 returned at Spa.
In fact, during one of his radio messages on Saturday teammate George Russell mentioned bouncing, but it was only during the race that the issue became more obvious.
Though no match for the Red Bulls or the surviving Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, the seven-time world champion managed to hold on to fourth place - even posting the fastest lap.
Bouncing, or porpoising, has hardly been mentioned since the dark days of 2022, but this weekend it returned, which will no doubt worry the team ahead of circuits like Monza.
"I think it was kind of a non-eventful race," said Hamilton, "there wasn't much really going on, I wasn't able to keep up with the cars ahead of me.
"I struggled at the beginning," he admitted to Sky Sports, "rear end is our biggest issue.
"Then we had big bouncing this weekend, so we are back to the bouncing like we had last year.
"So at the end I was keeping the Ferrari within a few seconds but I couldn't get any closer to that battle.
"To get the fastest lap at the end, it was nice to have the gap to the car behind, it was decent. But it was gusty today and it was very difficult out there and difficult to keep it on track."
Asked what might have caused the bouncing to return, admitted: “They don't know and to me it is a concern, but we will work through the data this week and try to figure out what we do before the next race.
"But I don't really have much more answers for you. I know what I want and I am praying for it, I am just waiting for the day that we get it."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Spa here.