Wolff comes up with explanation why Hamilton was slower than Russell

At Mercedes, they were again a second slower than Ferrari and also Red Bull Racing in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday. Toto Wolff is fed up with the fact that the performance of the W13 does not at all correspond to how the car behaves on the asphalt during F1 weekends. The German racing team is therefore still experimenting.

Mercedes has no solution yet

Mercedes has been struggling with porpoising all year. It is a complex thing that cannot be solved overnight, Wolff stressed in conversation with Auto, Motor und Sport."We know how the bouncing occurs. But we still don't have a clear answer on how to stop it. That's why we are experimenting. That's more important now than optimizing the car for a specific circuit in the short term."

In Baku, Lewis Hamilton drove with a different floor than George Russell. According to the Mercedes team boss, that is also the reason why the seven-time world champion was just over two tenths slower than his compatriot on Saturday afternoon. "Lewis tried a different specification of the bottom end. It didn't work," Wolff lamented. In not too long Mercedes has to tie the knot on what concept they want to go into 2023 with, so by now time is starting to run out fairly quickly.

Hamilton in 2023

For Hamilton, it is a difficult season anyway. In previous years he always had a car that could directly compete for victories and even championships, but in 2022 everything is different. Very different things are asked than before. However, Hamilton's motivation does not suffer.

The 37-year-old Briton's contract still runs through to 2023 and rumours that Hamilton would throw in the towel prematurely are dismissed by Wolff."Lewis is fully motivated. Like all of us, he is looking for a way out of this situation. Therefore, we have no doubt that Lewis will drive for us until the end of 2023. There are no doors open with us for next year." Pierre Gasly, one of the drivers who wants a step up, can therefore draw a line under the Mercedes name.