“Mercedes seems to have the bouncing problem again” - Former F1 racer concerned about Silver Arrows as recent updates fail to impress

Former F1 racer Timo Glock recently stated that Mercedes have gone back to facing issues of bouncing after recent upgrades at the Belgian GP.

The German team was one of the worst affected teams at the start of the 2022 season from porpoising because of their low ride height. However, they did fix that problem to become more competitive in terms of performance but the drivers complained of bouncing issues once again in Spa 2023 recently.

In his column for Sky Sports Germany, Glock said:

"Mercedes seems to have the bouncing problem again. The current difficulty for Toto Wolff's team is to understand why the data coming from the wind tunnel does not correspond to that on the track in reality."

"Mercedes used to be by far the best there. No matter what updates they brought that the wind tunnel spit out for them, they worked. The Silver Arrows are currently struggling with the new generation of cars. It takes a lot of time to solve this. In Spa, however, it was a small step backwards," he added.

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Mercedes CTO provides an update on their further developments to the W14

Mercedes F1 CTO Mike Elliott stated that the team will not stop developing the W14 as they are in a fight for P2 with Aston Martin, Ferrari and probably McLaren.

Speaking with Autosport, he said:

“I think there's still learning we can do, and there's still P2 to fight for in the championship. We'll keep developing, but obviously, our prime focus now is next year's car. Fundamentally, we want to be winning world championships. I think that's our prime focus and we'll put our efforts into doing that. I think when you look at trying to develop a brand-new car when you're making architectural changes, it's hard to keep that pace in the tunnel."

"So, in actual fact, some of the running we're doing for this year's car is just helpful learning and it's helpful learning at the track, without really hindering next year's car," he added. "You have to sort of pick a direction and go in it. Then, as you learn, you can tweak that direction and move it slightly. I like to think we've sort of gotten ourselves into the right place for the winter."

It will be fascinating to see how Mercedes plans to develop their W14 this season without hindering their attention and focus towards the 2024 season in their hopes of fighting for the title next year.