Hamilton left 'praying' as he reveals concern over returning issue

Porpoising and bouncing was an issue that hampered Mercedes’ W13 challenger for long periods of last season until they finally got on top of the issue.

The issues have not been as prevalent this year but seven-time world champion Hamilton revealed that returning bouncing problems in his W14 made his weekend more challenging. 

“It was kind of a non-eventful race,” Hamilton told Sky after finishing fourth in Sunday’s race in Belgium. 

“There wasn’t much going on and I wasn’t able to keep up with the cars ahead of me. I struggled at the beginning. 

“The rear-end is our biggest issue and we had big bouncing this weekend so we were back to the bouncing like we had last year.

“At the end I was keeping the Ferrari within a few seconds but I couldn't get any closer to battle and to get the fastest lap at the end, it was nice to have the gap to the car behind. 

"The last lap was decent. It was gusty today, it was difficult out there to keep it on track.” 

Asked how much of a concern the returning bouncing problem is, Hamilton replied: “[The team] don’t know [what’s caused the bouncing]. 

“To me it is a concern but we’ll work through the data this week and try and figure out what we do for the next race.

“I know what I want, I’m praying for it and I’m just waiting for the day we get it."