Mercedes engineering chief Andrew Shovlin declared their porpoising woes over in a boost to their chances of winning a race in the second half of the season.
To differing extents, every team on the grid had to contend with the bouncing issue at the start of the year. The phenomenon was caused by the reintroduction of ground-effect aerodynamics on car designs, which helps to promote closer racing.
But the unfortunate side-effect was the porpoising. It became clear in pre-season testing that the new aerodynamics were making the cars bounce quite violently at high speeds, causing them to lose grip in corners.
Some teams got to grips with it quite quickly, but Mercedes were one of the outfits left scratching their heads the longest. And it took its toll on drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell – especially at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where the former was left with severe back pain after racing on the bumpy Baku circuit.
After that weekend, the FIA stepped in with a technical directive which will come into force in Belgium later this month. But after that the topic died down somewhat, as the bouncing became much less noticeable on smoother tracks and as the teams still fighting the phenomenon started to make some headway.
Mercedes are one of the teams who believe they have finally managed to control it without sacrificing too much performance. "Bouncing is no longer an issue at all," asserted Shovlin, as quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.
The German magazine went on to quote an anonymous Mercedes source, who added: "We still have a few things up our sleeve, nothing spectacular, but things that will take us further. We're no longer going in circles, but are now moving forward continuously. Also with the setup."
Meanwhile, ex-F1 racer Jolyon Palmer believes it is only a matter of time until the ever-improving Mercedes team is winning races again. "Thirteen races in and the trajectory of the team is the clearest of all on the grid they are undoubtedly edging their way towards a first victory of the season, which I predict they will have in the next handful of races," he wrote.
"We head into the summer shutdown with Verstappen and Red Bull sailing away into the distance and Ferrari looking over their shoulders at Mercedes fast approaching, a feat you'd have struggled to believe after the way this season started."
