"My friend give it a rest, the track is bumpy": Fans react to Lewis Hamilton's teammate George Russell suggesting a return of porpoising in W15

F1 fans have hit back at Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes teammate George Russell after he claimed that some porpoising might be expected heading into the first race of the season.

The 2024 season will commence on Thursday, February 29, with FP1 and FP2 sessions at the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain.

The Mercedes W15 is heading into the opening race as one of the teams unknown of their true potential despite a consistent showing during the pre-season testing last week.

Speaking with the media, including Sportskeeda, Russell pointed out that the W15 was experiencing porpoising during the testing and might struggle with the issue during the first race weekend as well.

“I would say this year's car is a totally different race car. To the point that the things we learned from last year in the way we were setting the car up, we will need to approach it differently this year," he said.

“So, there's a lot to learn about this. And it feels much closer to how a race car should feel. But the one area that we need to continue to work on is probably the bouncing that we're seeing. We got caught up with a bit of bouncing [in testing] last week. We were pushing the car really aggressively," Russell added.

F1 fans took to social media to give their reactions to Lewis Hamilton's teammate on X, with one fan claiming that the bouncing nature was a track characteristic, saying:

"My friend give it a rest, the track is bumpy."

Here are some more reactions:

While some fans stated that only time will tell if the W15 was any different from its previous two predecessors:

Lewis Hamilton previews the Bahrain GP ahead of the race weekend

Lewis Hamilton stated that there were still 'some problems' in the 2024 challenger but pointed out that they had a stronger base to develop the car than the previous season.

In his pre-race press conference, the Mercedes driver said (via Pitpass):

"We still have some problems that we're having to work through and it's not perfect but it's definitely a better-starting place from the past two years, so we are relatively happy in that respect. We're not where we want to be and may not compete with these other guys at the front but we will work towards it."

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell would hope that the team can iron out the issues before taking to the track this weekend.