Lewis Hamilton complained that his Mercedes car was ‘undriveable’ after recording the 13th-quickest time at the second practice session in Montreal.
The Canadian Grand Prix is the first since the FIA introduced changes aimed at improving the porpoising problems afflicting most cars in the paddock, and Mercedes have been especially badly hit, with their car going from one of the two best last year, to an also-ran in 2022.
In the second session in Canada on Friday for the teams to hone their setups ahead of Saturday’s third practice and qualifying before Sunday’s race, the seven-time champion struggled once again.
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The Briton could only set the 13th-quickest time, which if repeated in qualifying would see him struggle to score points on Sunday barring problems for drivers ahead of him on the grid.
Speaking to his team on the radio, he said: “This car is now undriveable, mate,” and pulled into the pits.
Following the session, he told Sky Sports: “Nothing we do to this car generally seems to work. Me and George had much different set-ups in P2 just to see if one way works and one way doesn’t.
For me, it was a disaster – it’s like the car is getting worse. It’s getting more and more unhappy the more we do to it.
“We’ll keep working on it, it is what it is – I think this is the car for the year, so we’ll have to tough it out and work on a better car for next year.
“I’m hoping overnight we can try to make some changes, but fundamentally it’s just the fundamentals of the car…so it’s going to be a struggle.”
Teammate George Russell was seventh, and with the younger driver more impressive this season with credible podium challenges, it may suggest that the problems for Mercedes are no closer to being resolved.
Last year’s champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, was quickest in both sessions.
