Nico Rosberg surprised by Mercedes struggles in Imola

Former Formula One champion Nico Rosberg was taken aback by Mercedes struggles at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

In the sole practise session before Friday’s qualifying at Imola, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were unable to get within five seconds of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Seven-time champion Hamilton barely made it through Q1 by four thousandths of a second, but rain arrived in Q2 and both Mercedes drivers were outside the top ten, causing Sainz to crash at the second Rivazza, causing the race to be stopped.

For the first time in a decade, rain poured during the red-flag phase, rendering the finish of the session useless. As a result, both Silver Arrows missed out on the top 10 shoot-off.

“It’s incredible to see how Mercedes is struggling,” Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.

“It just doesn’t seem to work at all, that car. You see the jumping with George Russell, that seriously gives you back and headaches just watching that. It is unbelievable.

“You get to the end of the straight and you need to slam the brakes in that condition. You have no confidence at all to attack the car when it is bouncing like that. Really fighting with that incredibly.

“They can’t get to seem to understand what to do to sort it out aerodynamically. Incredible to see them back there.”

Russell and Hamilton have both experienced porpoising this season, and there appears to be no solution in sight.

Rosberg explained further on how a solution could be created: “The drivers are not going to be too involved in this issue, it is going to be the aerodynamicists.

“It is about data gathering on track, but it is always very difficult to gather accurate data, especially when you have such a fast bouncing movement of the car because the air is going to be all over the place under the car.

“The problem is they don’t see that problem in the windtunnel because the conditions are stable so it is a different environment.

“There is a big correlation issue and that also makes it difficult to understand the problem and find solutions.”