The mystery about the strange light that was seen under Hamilton's Mercedes at the Formula 1 Australian GP was unveiled

After sweeping Formula 1 since the start of the hybrid era in 2014, Mercedes is going through its worst start in eight years, in which it was able to capture two podiums out of six possible and both came in third positions. The gap that Ferrari pulled out at the start of the season generated the alert in the German team, which uses all kinds of elements to be able to have a clearer diagnosis of the failures that complicate its new car, the W13.

The “Lewis Hamilton won”, ceased to be a recurring title, something that happened until last year. The drastic change in technical regulations for 2022 was a shuffle and hit again in teams that had to work a lot on cars, whose aerodynamic aspect changed by 80 percent compared to 2021. At the start of this year, Charles Leclerc with his Ferrari are the reference with two wins over three contested dates.

Mercedes has not yet found the return to an optimal functioning of his car, which continues to suffer from porpoising, which is the rebound effect on the straights. This occurs because the aerodynamic load of the floor (elements for the car to stick to the asphalt and achieve better airflow) sucks the car and gets so close to the ground until the area for air to pass is so small that it blocks and loses all the load, gets up and the same thing happens again. This is due to the so-called ground effect system, which returned after 40 years to the category with the aim of making cars faster in corners and there are more overruns.

There were squads that managed to solve it or it almost didn't complicate them, like the case of Ferrari, who leads the Constructors' Championship comfortably with 104 points, against the 65 that Mercedes won, which continues to look for answers to the decline of its monoposto. That's why this weekend in Australia he resorted to an element to try to have answers to his problems.

The retailers couldn't help but notice something that caught their attention and it was a faint light that came out of the floor of Hamilton's car. As the specialized media outlet Motorsport explains, it was an active sensor throughout the weekend in the English car, every time it went for a spin on the urban circuit of Albert Park in Melbourne.

The sensor, which emits a light when turned on, was located at the bottom, under the chassis, and in photo 1 and 3 of this note it can be slightly noticed. The German team had to resort to this alternative to get answers about what exactly happens on straights and curves.

This type of devices is quite common in F1, but they are usually only installed in free practice sessions, since they incorporate an additional weight to the car, which is believed to vary between 1 and 2 kg.

Hamilton referred to the use of this sensor in dialogue with Sky: “I have something in my car that makes it a little heavier, but it's not a big detriment. Hopefully it will allow the team to get more information in the race.”

Although the light sensor in the lower part of the car was not the only data collection exercise that Mercedes carried out, since, in the free practice rounds, it added another optical sensor at the height of the body that was put in chainstays on the edge of the ground.

Due to the use of these sensors, Mercedes would not present the expected improvements in Imola, home of the Emilia Romagna GP on April 24, since it does not want to incorporate aerodynamic modifications in the car until the rebound effect has been resolved or at least largely solved as Ferrari and Red Bull did, which after the initial trio of race are one step ahead of the German team, which no longer sweeps F1. However, there are still 20 dates left and a team that won eight Constructors titles in a row (2014/2021) should not be underestimated, something never seen in the Maxima.

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