SAKHIR, Bahrain — Toto Wolff said the early signs are that Mercedes’ 2023 car does not have the same bouncing issues that the team struggled with so much last year.
After eight straight titles Mercedes won a single race last year as it struggled to get to grips with its erratic car. The W13 was known to bounce violently while driving at high speed, an issue which first revealed itself during winter testing in Bahrain last year.
Despite those problems Mercedes stuck with its “zero sidepod” design concept this year and Wolff said George Russell’s early feedback was positive.
“He was generally happy with the car,” Wolff said about George Russell’s feedback during the lunch break. “It seems to be balanced in the right way.
“There’s no bouncing, which is good news, apart from that big bump at the end of the straight. A good starting point. We are getting a lot of data which is important to correlate after last year and try different things. A productive first morning.”
When asked how he felt on Thursday compared to the first day of 2022’s test, Wolff said: “[Last year] knew we were in trouble because the car was bouncing around and we really weren’t able to drive it correctly. [Today] is very different.
“We have a very solid base now to work from and try to optimise the car, which we haven’t done yet, it’s really just padding out, are there any areas that a could be real performance hinderance like last year with the bouncing. Now we’ve just got to work through the programme.”
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton took over driving duties for George Russell in the afternoon session.