07/06/2022
NEWS STORY
An 8-time winner of the British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton is hoping that the W13 might yet allow him to challenge for a ninth home win next month.
Having appeared to have finally got on top of its porpoising issue at Barcelona, fans were concerned to see the W13s of Hamilton and teammate, George Russell bouncing away again in Monaco just a week later.
While Mercedes has played down the Monaco event, insisting that the bouncing was more about the bumpy nature of the street track, this weekend's race in Baku should give a far better idea of where the German team stands.
Having won his home race in four successive years - 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 - Hamilton is hoping to do it again next month, having won every running of the event since 2019.
"I hope by the time we get to Silverstone we will have the car as we want it, to be able to fight with Ferrari and Red Bull," he is quoted as saying by Speedweek.
"It would be nice if we can give them a run for their money at our home race," he adds. "I know that work is going on tirelessly in the factory to make progress with the car. And I have no doubt we will get it right sooner or later."
However, engineering director, Andrew Shovlin fears that Baku may well witness a repeat of the Monaco issues.
"Baku might present some similar challenges," he admits. "We are working on areas to try and improve the ride, try and be able to run the car a bit closer to its optimum window. But we are well aware that in addition to adding base performance to the car, we've got to make it work over a wider range of circuits.
"So, these are all things that we are busy with in preparation for Baku but also longer-term because there are other challenging tracks that will come up," he adds. "But all of those projects are being worked on really hard because the team and the drivers are desperate to get back to the front."