“The car is bouncing literally every straight” - Porpoising issues highlighted by Lewis Hamilton have Mercedes boss worried

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes yet again failed to finish on the podium at the Belgian GP. While a bad start from the pole position cost them Hungary, the limitations of the car hampered Hamilton's progress in Spa-Francorchamps.

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff made alarming comments about the Mercedes W14 showing similar characteristics to its predecessor. Over the Belgian GP weekend, the overhauled W14, even with the new upgrades at Spa was plagued by bouncing issues.

Given the track's layout which includes long straights, the problem which haunted the team last year has made a return. Team boss Wolff went on to say that the car was bouncing on high-speed corners too, which could otherwise have been taken flat out.

“The car is just bouncing literally every straight. Even Blanchimont was a corner that Lewis had to lift, which is an easy flat normally,” he said post-race

Lewis Hamilton echoed the same thought about returning issues. He made an alarming discretion that the team doesn't know the root cause of their returning woes.

“I struggled at the beginning, rear end is our biggest issue,” the seven-time world champion told Sky Sports F1. “Then we had big bouncing this weekend, so we are back to the bouncing like we had last year.”

“They [Mercedes] don’t know [what caused the bouncing] 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.”

The Mercedes driver had a low-profile outing as Max Verstappen sailed past him and Charles Leclerc kept him at bay to claim the final spot on the podium. Teammate George Russell could only manage a P6 result.

Toto Wolff reassured that the team would scour through the data to find possible answers to resolve the bouncing issue.

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Lewis Hamilton admits Mercedes not in the "same race" as Red Bull

Starting P3 for the Belgian GP, Lewis Hamilton hoped for a podium finish aiming to clear Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. Instead, he dropped back a position as Max Verstappen came flying through to win the race by a huge margin. Even Leclerc was a distant target for the Mercedes driver.

F1 Grand Prix of Belgium

Making comparisons to the mighty RB19, Hamilton claimed the Silver Arrows were not even in the same race as the Red Bulls.

“Yeah. Started third but went backwards one place, but we expected Max to come flying by at some stage. [Red Bull] were eight-tenths to a second faster than everybody today, per lap, so not really in the same race." he said post-race to F1.

Despite being out of the Red Bull's league, Lewis Hamilton hailed Mercedes for the big strides made in the first half of the season. He is looking to come back stronger after the summer break.