Lewis Hamilton ‘taking painkillers’ to deal with pain caused by driving Mercedes F1 car

Mercedes: What’s gone wrong at the F1 and can they recover?

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Lewis Hamilton has admitted he is “taking painkillers” and fears he is suffering “micro-concussions” due to the effects of porpoising at race weekends. The seven-time champion said he had experienced “a lot more headaches in the past few months” since his Mercedes began suffering the issues.

He even claims the bruises he picks up after races can be “quite severe” and takes most of the week to recover. He said: “I have not spoken to a specialist on spinal discs but I can feel mine.

“I am a little bit shorter this week and my discs are not in the best shape right now. That’s not good for longevity. There is no need for us to have long-term injuries. There’s a lot more bruising in the body after the race nowadays – it is taking more of the week to recover.

“I don’t think that’s to do with age, it’s because the bruising can be quite severe. When you experience up to 10Gs on a bump, which I had in the last race, that is a heavy, heavy load on the top part of your neck. I have had a lot more headaches in the past few months. I am taking painkillers. Hopefully, I don’t have any micro-concussions.”

Hamilton’s fears come just a week after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where he complained of severe back pain. Hamilton appeared to scream in agony to race engineer Peter Bonnington over team radio during the race, shouting that his back was “killing” him.

After the race, he appeared to struggle to get out of his Mercedes car and then said he was biting down on his teeth in pain almost all race. Hamilton is not the only one complaining of struggling due to porpoising concerns.

His team-mate George Russell has repeatedly explained the bumps were not nice and fears a serious incident occurring if action wasn’t taken. After last week’s race, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was also visibly shaken after struggling with bouncing.

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The issues have forced the FIA to take action ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix on safety grounds. A short-term fix will see the FIA determine a minimum amount of acceptable oscillations.

It is expected this will prevent steam from running their cars too low to the ground to gain performance to the detriment of driver safety.

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