Lewis Hamilton and the porpoising problem: comes a heavy lecture

Despite a career studded with many successes and records, a harsh lecture came.

Lewis Hamilton has gone through a 2022 full of problems, the first of which was the “porpoising” that has been a particular feature of his Mercedes. The phenomenon, known for the car’s hopping especially at high speeds, has led the seven-time champion to file many complaints, for which he has now also been criticized.

In fact, the one who took issue with Hamilton was Pat Symonds, an engineer with a very long experience in Formula 1 and who currently works directly for the Circus in the role of Chief Technical Officer. Well, in his opinion Hamilton’s complaints to the FIA about porpoising were excessive: this is clear from his statements to ‘Auto Motor Und Sport’.

“I think they overreacted a little bit, particularly after Baku,” Symonds said, referring to Hamilton but to the whole Mercedes environment in general. “That’s the Grand Prix where we faced the most problems, as one team tried a solution that didn’t work and complained loudly in public. But even if there had been no intervention on our part, that problem would have been solved. And in fact, in the meantime, many teams have figured out how to control the car’s jumps.”