‘A bit sore’ – Lewis Hamilton continues to have bouncing issues in his Mercedes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton says he was left “a bit sore” after he was bouncing on the straights in practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on Friday.

Bouncing has been a problem for most teams on the F1 circuit this year after rules were introduced before the start of the 2022 season to make for closer races and easier overtaking.

Also known as porpoising, the bouncing is caused by an issue with airflow to the car’s underbody. It is a problem that has particularly affected Mercedes this year and Hamilton is fully aware of it.

“I’ll get by, I’m a bit sore,” the 37-year-old said after finishing Friday practice 12th fastest.

“We’re hitting some serious speeds at the end here and it’s bouncing a lot.

“I just can’t really tell you where (we are losing) 1.6 seconds, 1.3 seconds or whatever it is, that’s a long way away.”

Hamilton’s teammate George Russell, who came seventh, said the new rules needed to be re-examined.

“I don’t think it’s right to run like this for the next four years or whatever we’ve got,” he said.

“Conversations are going to be needed because everybody is in the same boat.

“Now the car is running so close to the ground, it’s crazy through those high-speed corners.

“The car is fully bottoming out and I think it’s the same for everybody and it’s really not comfortable to drive. I don’t know what the future holds for this era of cars but I can’t see us being able to [continue like this].”

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who came fifth, said he was having the same problem as the Mercedes pair.

“It is certainly something I am looking into,” the Spaniard said.

“For some reason today I struggled a lot with this phenomenon which hasn’t been there the last few races and it looked particularly bad on my side of the garage.

“It’s something I need to dig into with the engineers. It was taking out a bit of confidence on the straights and the braking.”