Lewis Hamilton declared the Monaco Grand Prix circuit “the bumpiest I’ve ever driven” after bouncing his way through Friday practice.
The seven-time world champion was only 12th fastest in FP2 on the streets of Monte Carlo, as he trialled numerous setup ideas to try and improve the ride of his Mercedes.
But with the new 2022 car much stiffer than before due to lower profile tyres and the new floor designs, Hamilton admits the challenge has certainly increased.
“Firstly, it’s the bumpiest the track has ever been,” he said post-session. “It’s probably the bumpiest track I’ve ever driven so that makes it one, difficult, and two, generally our car bounces a lot.
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“It is different bouncing to what we have experienced in the past because it is at a lower speed, it is not aero. It is just the bumps on the track are making it worse.
“Otherwise, [I am] not really having to learn the track differently, it’s just having to fight the car. Putting a lap together is wow! Holy crap! It’s a lot different.
“I don’t remember experiencing it like that before. I don’t know how it is for the others and if they are experiencing the same thing as us but it is the bumpiest rollercoaster ride ever.”
Today’s F1 cars are almost 200kg heavier than those Hamilton drove when he first raced in Monaco back in 2007, and that bulk is very noticeable.
“I remember back in the day, my first years here, just a light, nimble car going around and it was so much better” explained Hamilton.
“Now, we have these super-heavy cars. They’re heavier than ever before, the braking zones are different so it is crazy. The tracks aren’t as smooth when they have been resurfaced. Technology is still against us.
“But as I say, putting a lap together is difficult.
“I think we made some improvements going into that session. When you do try to put a lap together, the grip doesn’t feel terrible it’s just your eyeballs coming out of the sockets so we’ve got some work to do to try and fix that.
“As anticipated, I didn’t think we would be as quick as the Ferraris and Red Bulls. Our battle is to try to stay ahead of the McLarens I think.”
Teammate George Russell appeared more at ease with his car as he led Hamilton in both sessions on Friday.
But like Hamilton, the younger Brit though also admits the main issue is sorting the ride.
“The stiffness of these cars are very, very stiff, and around a bumpy street circuit, it is not easy to put on the limit,” added Russell. “That’s one of the biggest difficulties.
“But we’ve seen Ferrari flourish again. We’ve seen how good they’ve been over kerbs, we saw it at Imola, that they were just smashing over them with relative ease, and it’s obviously playing into their hands at the moment.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do overnight. I’m not too sure we can really close that gap. But nevertheless it’s always good fun to drive around here.
“I don’t feel too bad after today. I could be feeling better. It was a relatively good day but we are not where we want to be. It’s P6, with a McLaren in front of us.
“We want to be best of the rest. That’s a fair result this weekend, behind Ferrari and Red Bull but we need to make sure we don’t have cheeky little Lando popping it in there, too.”