‘A vicious cycle, bouncing every straight’ - Wolff on Merc's “limiting factor"

Lewis Hamilton had a low-key run to fourth while teammate George Russell finished sixth, a performance Mercedes team principal Wolff admitted was underwhelming. 

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Mercedes made little gains despite bringing their latest upgrade package to Belgium as they proved no match for Red Bull’s recovering Max Verstappen and could not challenge Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari for the podium in Sunday’s grand prix. 

Perhaps more worryingly for the eight-time constructors’ champions, their W14 was struggling with bouncing problems again, just like it did for much of 2022. 

“I’ve just seen the data and spoken to the drivers,” Wolff said. “The main limiting factor today and yesterday was the bouncing.

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

“You’re bouncing on the straight, you overheat the tyres on the braking. So that is a vicious cycle.

“It was the main limiting factor this weekend and frustrating to check out for the holidays like this.

“But tomorrow and after tomorrow, we’ve got to understand more based on the data.”

After Sunday’s race, Hamilton admitted to being concerned about the return of the bouncing. 

“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.”

Hamilton added: “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.”