"We can't go any higher" - Lewis Hamilton refutes claims that raising ride heights of F1 cars can reduce porpoising

Lewis Hamilton claims porpoising cannot be solved merely by having the ride height of the new F1 cars raised and admitted that Mercedes cannot go any higher.

Lewis Hamilton's back-breaking race in Baku last week brought the issue of porpoising and the underlying health implications it could have on F1 drivers. The FIA decided to address these safety concerns by implementing a new directive that forces teams to ensure driver safety by raising their ride height if a certain level of porpoising is experienced.

Speaking at a pre-race press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Canadian GP, the 37-year-old was asked what he thought of the FIA's new directive and if he agreed with the idea that the porpoising of the Mercedes W13 could be tamed by raising the ride height. 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. But even when we raise the car, this thing still bounces. And we can’t go any higher actually.”

The seven-time world champion went on to add, saying:

“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. And 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.”

According to a medical expert from the World Federation of Neurosurgeons, the potential for damage to drivers' spinal discs and the possibility of small brain hemorrhages in the future due to porpoising is a serious concern that needs to be addressed in earnest.

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Lewis Hamilton's posture while racing bigger cause of backache than porpoising, according to Ralf Schumacher

Lewis Hamilton's posture in the cockpit of the Mercedes W13 could be a bigger cause for his back issues over porpoising, as per former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher.

Ralf is the younger brother of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. The German raced in the sport for the likes of Jordan, Williams, and Toyota between 1997 and 2007, scoring six wins, six poles, and 27 podiums throughout his F1 career.

In his column for Sky Germany after the 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP, the 46-year-old wrote:

“As for bouncing, you can have those issues, but [George] Russell was in the same car and George looked fresh to me after the race, Lewis [Hamilton] should first see [Russell] is faster than [him]. I’m sorry for Lewis that he has a backache but other teams are tackling the problem as well. I don’t know if Lewis sits more upright in the car and therefore feels the blows to his back more. If he were sitting more upright, the load on his lumbar spine would be much higher and would explain his pain. The other problem with bouncing is the constant hitting makes the car hop and you can hardly see anything.”

Lewis Hamilton will be all-in on trying to get the best possible result for Mercedes, having claimed the W13 was undrivable during Friday's practice session after running with a raised ride height.