VegasInsider had a chat with two-time Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi about George Russell and Mercedes and the Brazilian had the following to say:
- George Russell has been very impressive – ‘the young lion is on board’
“George Russell is doing really well. I think he has enough experience in Formula One now.”
“Coming from Williams, the Mercedes is much faster, better than the Williams anyway.
“Then he’s committed to do well, he is focused and to my surprise, is doing well.”
“That’s another challenge for Lewis (Hamilton), because it’s what I call, ‘the young lion is on board’.”
- The porpoising in Mercedes is more evident – you can clearly see how it’s affecting Lewis Hamilton
“Now if you look what’s happened to the porpoising of the Mercedes and even the Ferrari.”
“In a Mercedes it is more evident. Every car has (porpoising) but the Mercedes is more evident – they have this from the beginning of the year.”
“When you look the onboard camera with the helmets, can you imagine the neck and the back of the driver how much impact they’re suffering, the whole track, how many laps, how many hours they are under this severe porpoising and that’s giving a shock to the back for sure.”
“I’m sure Lewis is feeling a lot, the pain in his back.”
“It’s very impressive when you look at the onboard camera how much he is moving up and down and how much you can see, the frequency of the bumping of the driver is exactly opposite to the car. And then it gives this you know shaking movement that for the body.”
“It’s not easy but I think with modern medicine they can help Lewis to run again Friday in Montreal.”
- Mercedes for sure are fighting the porpoising issue – working the suspension could help but it is a different technical problem
“I’m sure Mercedes are fighting this issue from the beginning of the season, still there it is.”
“Sometimes on some tracks it’s more because it depends a lot on the velocity ratio of the suspension, but looks like most of the cars are just working the tires, not even the suspension.”
“The suspension works minimum, it’s nearly solid suspension, but it’s a difficult technical problem to solve because that’s when the car is stuck to the ground and then you lose the pressure and it starts going up and down, up and down.”
“Pressure, no pressure, low pressure under the car because the the body under the car is generating a lot of downforce and suddenly you lose the low pressure, the car goes up and then comes down.”
Fittipaldi was speaking to VegasInsider, and you can find the entire interview here.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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