“It’s just undriveable like this…”
Mercedes have not seen their Monaco weekend start like they would have hoped, which is not something you want to hear on a track like Monaco’s.
With overtaking being so difficult on the tight course, Mercedes will be sure to suffer if they can’t turn things around from FP1.
With porpoising becoming all too common this season, Monaco’s streets were sure to cause some bother.
“I think we have a ride issue that we’ve had through the season with the bouncing,” said Toto Wolff. “Sometimes it’s a combination of error and stiffness… Today it’s the stiffness.”
After quite a lot of optimism coming to Monaco after last week’s performance in Barcelona, Wolff believes the current reality is that the car is undriveable.
“We were quick, maybe not at the end, overall a good car but it’s just undriveable like this.”
🗣️”It’s just undriveable like this”
Toto Wolff explains the issues Mercedes faced during a difficult FP1 in Monaco and how they aim to fix them 👇 pic.twitter.com/NyJ6LZbV1m
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) May 27, 2022
Comfort
The plan for Wolff is now to try and get the ride more comfortable for his drivers.
“(We can) work on the set-up, make it a little more enjoyable for them.”
Regardless of how bad the ride might be for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, however, the priority will always be the speed of the car.
When asked if he would keep speed even at the cost of Hamilton and Russell’s comfort Wolff responded, “Yeah, of course, you want to have a fast car… If it’s fast we’ll make him all the pads he needs.”
They might not be where they want to be but Wolff is definitely more positive about Mercedes’ progression than Hamilton.
“We’re coming closer in any case and learning more and more, so that’s positive.”
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