Anthony Davidson saw something unusual at Mercedes in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will start the races in the lower reaches of the top 10 after setting the seventh and ninth fastest times respectively.
And speaking during commentary for Sky Sports F1, Davidson shared a significant observation about the team.
Mercedes are desperately trying to kick-start their season after their worst start to a campaign for more than a decade.
It’s the first time they’ve failed to score a podium in the first three races since 2012.
Russell and, in particular, Hamilton have both been trying to work out how to extract the full potential of their W15 car.
They finished runner-up behind Red Bull in the 2023 championship but arrived in Japan a distant fourth, having been overtaken by both Ferrari and McLaren.
Anthony Davidson says Mercedes may be ‘on top’ of porpoising
As he watched footage of Hamilton powering down the back straight at Suzuka, Davidson noticed that something had changed.
Mercedes have persistently struggled with porpoising and bouncing since the beginning of F1’s ground effect era in 2022, but there was no sign of that here.
That suggests that Toto Wolff’s team may finally have found a solution to their long-standing woes.
Davidson has a particularly close knowledge of the team’s weaknesses given his work as a simulator driver at their HQ.
“No porpoising whatsoever from the Mercedes – bit of a rare sight you have to say,” he said.
“They’ve clearly got on top of that element of the car.”
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell fail to impress despite promising signs
Mercedes were feeling much more optimistic about their car on the back of Friday’s one dry practice session.
Russell and Hamilton both finished within the top five, around half a second behind pacesetter Max Verstappen.
Sky Sports F1’s Damon Hill remarked that the drivers sounded more upbeat than they had in years.
And yet, in a more meaningful session on Saturday, they once again failed to live up to expectations.
The Suzuka circuit is one of the fastest on the calendar, posing problems for a Mercedes team that have had major difficulties in high-speed corners this year.
One problem that could haunt them at every race track on the F1 calendar, until it’s fixed, is the lack of correlation between their simulation tools and their actual performance.
It’s a key issue that Wolff must address as he tries to equip Hamilton and Russell with a package good enough to deliver the team’s first victory since the end of 2022.
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