"I'm just grateful I was able to get out" - Lewis Hamilton talks about 'painful' outing with his Mercedes at 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP

Lewis Hamilton believes he could not get out of the car within the permitted time frame of 10 seconds due to his painful outing in Baku. The Briton was grateful he got out of the car after the Azerbaijan GP after suffering the physical effects of bottoming.

When asked if he was able to get out of his car within the limited safety time period of ten seconds after the Azerbaijan GP, the seven-time world champion said:

“I don’t think so at that time. No, it was excruciatingly painful at the time, so I’m just grateful I was able to get out. But yeah, definitely not at the speed that you’re supposed to be.”

The Mercedes driver rued his painful outing at the Azerbaijan GP where he suffered the effects of his car bottoming, a phenomenon that occurs when a car is running at a lower ride height. Describing the extent of the bouncing on their car, Lewis Hamilton said:

“So in the last race and previous races, we have raised the car and you still have bouncing. Porpoising is more about the flow structure underneath the car. So we’ve run the car very high, most of the season. And it’s not until Barcelona that we started to be able to get it a little bit lower. We had no bouncing for the first time in Barcelona, except for in the high-speed corners. And then it appeared again in Monaco and in Baku, so we had to raise the car again.”

He continued:

But even when we raise the car, this thing still bounces. We can’t go any higher actually. We’re limited by the rear suspension now. So we do lose performance naturally when you do go higher, but this porpoising is caused by the disrupted flow underneath the car.”

Lewis Hamilton revealed that the rear suspension on the W13 limits them from increasing the ride-height of the car and when lowered, it leads to bouncing.

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Lewis Hamilton admitted to suffering from headaches due to porpoising

Although Lewis Hamilton did not consult a specialist, he revealed he suffered from headaches. Upon being asked if he suffered from micro-concussions due to bouncing in his car, the Mercedes driver said:

“So in terms of micro-concussions, I’ve definitely been having a lot more headaches in the past months, but I have not seen a specialist about it. So I’m not taking it too seriously or just taking painkillers. So hopefully I don’t have the concussions.”

Several drivers have complained about the health issues the bouncing in the car might be causing them and the FIA has recently intervened to examine the health issues caused by the vertical oscillations. The longevity of driver health has become a serious discussion in the sport as the new generation of cars have barely completed a third of the calendar.