Lewis Hamilton again complained about the W13's strong kicks and claimed that he used an experimental part in the rear suspension, responsible for the increased gallop in Baku
Lewis Hamilton endured a tough race last weekend when Formula 1 competed in the Azerbaijan GP on the streets of Baku. While Mercedes continues to suffer greatly from the W13's quirks, the driver felt the worst of it and had to endure the gallop along the longest straight of the calendar, more than 2 km long. After the race, the #44 could barely get out of the car and admitted that he thought about not going all the way to the end of the race.
"There were several moments when I didn't know if I was going to make it [to the end of the race]," Hamilton admitted. "The battle with the car was intense. It was bouncing around so much that at several moments I almost went into the wall. So it's a safety concern," the seven-time world champion lamented.
Once again, Hamilton classified the issue of bouncing as a safety problem, since drivers are literally bouncing around inside their cars, and the bouncing is also impairing vision, stability, and braking - which can lead to dangerous accidents, since the phenomenon manifests itself more strongly at high speeds.
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"Hitting the wall at 290 km/h, I don't think I ever had to think too much about that as a race driver," he pointed out. "There is a lot of potential in this car, but we can't release it until we can stop that ticking over. I would do anything to avoid that again," he said.
As soon as the race was over last Sunday (12), Hamilton had already admitted that it was one of the toughest races he has done in his entire career. In addition, the seven-time champion also revealed that he was using an experimental part in the car, and the change in the rear of the W13 #44 made his bounce considerably worse than Russell's in the other single-seater.
"That was the most painful race I've ever experienced, the hardest," Hamilton said still in Baku after the race. "George [Russell] didn't have the same bite as me, he had a lot less. I used an experimental part on the car and a different rear suspension. In the end, it was the wrong one," he added.