01/07/2022
NEWS STORY
Second quickest, just 0.163s off the pace, Lewis Hamilton gets his Silverstone weekend off to a strong start, despite the bouncing.
The Briton was one of a number of drivers whose cars were observed bouncing on various parts of the track today, but despite this he seemed content.
"It has been a good day," he told Sky Sports, "we managed 10 laps in FP1 which was better than most, so I was happy with that.
"It's still bouncing quite a bit," he confirmed, "not necessarily in a straight line but through the corners it's pretty harsh. Not physically harsh, but just like in the car, on the tyres and everything.
"You can't just drive the tracks the same as you used to with this car with how stiff it is, the ride characteristics and this porpoising that we do get which a lot of it is actually from the ride stiffness.
"Tt's not the same but I'm still having fun," he insisted. "Turn 1 is great, and Maggotts and Becketts is still pretty mega, and Stowe... they're my favourite corners.
"We've still got work to do, but it feels like a small step forwards."
Asked if, as been previously claimed the porpoising is track specific and Silverstone is better suited to the W13, or whether the latest upgrades have helped, he replied: "The upgrade wasn't anything to do with ride, it's just literally downforce.
"It was actually difficult to feel the upgrades," he admitted, "because you're coming from such a different track. We are coming from a low wing, low speed circuit to all medium and high speed circuits.
"We didn't get to feel the car like this," he added, referring to the recent race in Montreal. "It's much smoother this track which is much better, more like Barcelona in that sense.
"But this is the best track there is. It's still hair-raising, and just epic to drive, and we are still fighting the car a little bit.
"Our long-run pace isn't as good as the other guys but it's not miles," he insisted. "It definitely makes an improvement. I'm sure overnight we can work and improve the car like we want."
Check out our Friday gallery from Silverstone here.