Hamilton: ‘Max doesn’t know what I’m talking about’ - Will they battle again?

F1 is currently embroiled in a row over the bouncing being experienced with the newly-designed 2022 cars and a controversial intervention from governing body the FIA to try and combat the problem. 

Mercedes have been the worst-affected team, while Ferrari have also suffered from bouncing. Red Bull’s RB18 car doesn’t appear to be susceptible to the high-speed porpoising phenomenon compared to their rivals. 

After qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff accused rivals of “pitiful” and “disingenuous” behaviour on the matter following heated discussions with Red Bull and Ferrari team principals Christian Horner and Mattia Binotto. 

Meanwhile, Verstappen said the Mercedes drivers should “just speak for themselves” in the ongoing debate amid concerns over potential long-term health impacts.  

Appearing alongside Verstappen in Friday’s press conferences, Hamilton said it was “always interesting seeing people’s perspectives and opinions in different lights”. 

“Obviously in front of you, it’s one thing, and another in the background, sometimes people say different things,” Hamilton added after Verstappen made it clear he opposed the FIA’s mid-season technical directive. 

Hamilton again referenced the saga after returning to the podium with a third-place finish behind Verstappen and Ferraris’ Carlos Sainz in Sunday’s grand prix. 

When asked about Mercedes’ chances for the upcoming British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Hamilton said: “I think we’re better in the medium and high-speed corners than we are in the low-speed corners, but we have bouncing so I don’t know how it’s going to be through Copse and all those places. 

“Max doesn’t know what I’m talking about but I know Carlos knows what I’m saying, so it will be interesting for us there. I’m really excited to get back to the UK, the weather is incredible right now so I hope it’s the same.” 

‘Night and day difference’ after failed experiments 

Hamilton labelled his Mercedes as “undriveable” after a difficult Friday in which he ended up only 13th-fastest in second practice. The seven-time world champion described the set-up as a “disaster” and felt his car was getting worse. 

Changes made overnight going into qualifying proved to be a huge step forward for Hamilton, who out-qualified teammate George Russell before turning in a strong drive to the podium. 

“The balance I had on Friday was neutral and super positive so no rear-end,” Hamilton explained. “As soon as you apply one degree of turning, the rear end is coming round. 

“So I was just fighting that constantly and it was very difficult to keep it out of the wall. That’s why I didn’t finish my long run because it was just undriveable in the set-up window that we tried. It was just an experiment to see if the car would work there and it didn’t.

“So then we made the changes and today was a much better balance. I had a nice amount of understeer today, better traction, not having those snaps. It was a night and day difference. 

“We still have bouncing, so that’s not going away. It was much better than Baku, this weekend, with the suspension that we chose.” 

After almost joining Verstappen and Sainz in the fight for the lead at the end of the Canadian Grand Prix following a late Safety Car, Hamilton believes Mercedes can take a lot of positives going forward. 

“We tried two different avenues and the avenue I went down was dreadful,” Hamilton added. “We collated all the data we had and we made drastic changes to the set-up and it was much, much, much nicer - more in line with what it anticipated. 

“It was good, when you get a full race distance, you find a lot of things out about the car and the relationship you have with the car and data, so there’s a lot to take from today. 

“One really great thing is we’ve got really good reliability, which I think is a real tribute to all the great work all the team are doing at both factories. 

“So we’ve just to keep our heads down, keep working and hopefully… I know where I’m losing to these guys [Red Bull and Ferrari], so that’s where I’m going to try and focus on attacking to try and improve.”