Sir Lewis Hamilton is looking forward to stepping into his Mercedes and enjoying a smooth ride when the Silver Arrows eventually get to the bottom of their bouncing issues.
The W13 has been quite the troublemaker this year, with “porpoising” and bouncing causing issues in both performance and physical condition for Hamilton and team-mate George Russell.
It became so bad in Baku that the seven-time champion struggled to get out of his car due to back pain, but the last two races in Canada and Silverstone have given them hope.
The ride has been much smoother in both of the last two races, and Hamilton has been on the rostrum in both of them as the pace of the W13 shows signs of improvement.
As a result, Hamilton is hopeful that the pace of the car can soon start matching Ferrari and Red Bull.
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“I’m praying every day, I definitely have hope that we can improve and I know everyone is working so hard,” he told Channel 4.
The FIA introduced a technical directive in Canada that states that teams will have to raise their ride heights if they are encountering too much oscillation.
When they measured the cars that weekend, they found that Ferrari and Red Bull have been using a plank that deflects more than 2mm in a specific part of the floor that is not covered by regulation.
That will be banned in France in a few weeks, which may slightly shake things up throughout the field.
“There are also some things going on in the background with floors, all sorts of things. It will be interesting to see how that affects everybody,” added Hamilton.
The 37-year-old is aware of how hard everyone in Brackley is working to resolve the problem, and he is hopeful that it will soon be a thing of the past.
“I’m dying for the day I get in the car and we don’t have bouncing,” Hamilton continued.
“There’s been times when the bouncing has been so heavy that you have to lift down the straight.
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“This was a challenge of a different kind. In the race, you can’t lift.
“You’re thinking of the points for the team, and how much every step in the championship means for all those that you work with and so you just grit and take it.
“It’s the first time in my racing career that I’ve looked at a set-up and decided to just live with a problem, that’s an unusual scenario.
“It took me three weeks after to feel good again but thankfully it was nothing disc-related, it was all muscle.
“There’s been a lot of needles stabbed in my back!”
Hamilton’s P3 in Silverstone was his third podium and Mercedes’ sixth of the season so far.