Lewis Hamilton fans given first glimpse of new Mercedes in action.. but have the team fixed 2022 porpoising woes?

MERCEDES have released footage of Lewis Hamilton’s first drive at Silverstone in their new W14 car.

The Brit F1 legend is hoping this is the car to deliver him a record eighth world title.

Instagram / @mercedesamgf1Mercedes have released footage of Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel of the new W14[/caption]

Fans are cautiously optimistic about the car’s chancesInstagram / @mercedesamgf1

Fans claimed that they didn’t think the car appeared to be porpoisingInstagram / @mercedesamgf1

Hamilton is hoping the car will help deliver him a record eighth F1 world titleRex

The chassis of Mercedes‘ car for 2023, which was launched last week, is mainly unpainted carbon fibre in a bid to save grams of excess weight.

And footage of Hamilton behind the wheel of the car was posted to Mercedes’ Instagram account on Wednesday.

Fans eagerly watched to see if the porpoising – bouncing in layman’s terms – issues that plagued the team last season were still present.

Merc supporters will get a better idea of whether they have fixed the problem when testing gets underway in Bahrain on Thursday.

But, from the short on-board snippet that was revealed on Wednesday, fans believed there was reason to be excited.

One wrote in reply to the video: “Bye bye porpoising.”

Another delighted fan exclaimed: “NO BOUNCING PEOPLE! NO BOUNCING!!!”

A third added: “Thank god porpoising is now a term I can wipe from my memory

And a fourth said tentatively: “I don’t want to be too optimistic but that looks and sound like a championship winning car.”

Meanwhile, other more cautious fans refused to get carried away until seeing the car in testing.

Hamilton ended the 2022 season without a win – the first time in his career that he went an entire campaign without finishing P1.

This season marks his 17th in F1, and he is currently level with Michael Schumacher on seven world titles.

An eighth crown this year would make him the stand alone record holder.