Hill refuses to rule out Mercedes: 'Then we're going to see exponential growth'

Mercedes may be a second behind Ferrari and Red Bull Racing, but for Damon Hill the current form of the German racing stable is no reason to rule out the team as a title contender. The former Formula One driver believes that the W13's true potential lies entirely behind the problems with porpoising that the team still faces.

"Yes, they're almost a second off the pace, but that's because they can't get the car low enough. That's because of the porpoising," Hill stated on the F1 Nation podcast. Once they do, Hill expects to see "exponential growth" in terms of the downforce of the Mercedes cars. In doing so, he refers to the wind tunnel data, which is said to be "sensational".

Hill thinks Hamilton was unlucky

That the W13 has so much going for it can be deduced to a lesser extent from the words of Toto Wolff, who called the car "undriveable" and "not worthy of a world champion". The fact that George Russell was able to achieve a decent result with the same car is something Hill thinks he can explain.

"I think Lewis has been a bit unlucky. I think he has been happy to play the guy who tries the experimental setups for Mercedes because he has more experience with them," states the 1996 world champion.

He, therefore, feels that Russell has not humiliated his teammate in any way in his early days with the team, as some would argue. Hill stresses that he needs to prove himself just now, but wonders how long he will be able to stay ahead of Hamilton. "He's done a good job, but whether he can keep that up all season if Lewis finds what he needs from the car, we shall see," Hill said.