George Russell broke part of car interior during Imola practice due to severe ‘porpoising’

Mercedes have struggled with the issue in the 2022 season

George Russell had a tough time in practice (AFP via Getty Images)

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed George Russell broke the interior of his car due to porpoising during Friday’s practice session at Imola.

Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton had issues with bouncing on their first outing at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Wolff said the issue is the worst he has ever seen it and that the cars aren’t “drivable”.

“W had George bouncing so much that he actually broke the stay on the floor,” Wolff told Sky, “You can’t drive [down the main straight] – you have to lift on the straight.”

“They [Russell and Hamilton] are trained – I have never experienced bouncing like this in my life. But it’s clearly not drivable.”

Ferrari have also experienced porpoising but Wolff said the Scuderia managed to get tyre grip and so dealt with the issue more effectively.

Wolff added: “Feedback that we are getting from Lewis and George is that there’s literally zero grip and that these gaps point to the tyres.

“When you are able to unlock that issue, you will do a jump and where that will end, I don’t know. I think there will be quite some discrepancies in performance and you could see a team [really behind in qualifying later on Friday].

“We were five second off the pace - it’s not the car and not the driver.”

So far this season Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has been the standout star and lead the driver standings. This has spoiled Hamilton’s hopes for a record eighth world title with the British driver fifth and is 44 points behind Leclerc.

And while his hopes don’t look bright, Hamilton is hopeful about the rest of the season.

“I prefer to stay optimistic,” he told GP Fans. “There are 20 races to go. If you think realistically in terms of the way the sport goes in terms of development, the top teams often develop at a similar pace. Will that be the case with this new car? Who knows.

“I’m really hopeful we can get in the fight but with every bit of improvement, Ferrari and Red Bull will probably make a similar sort of step so it’s not going to be easy. Yes, the gap is pretty big right now but there is a long way to go.”