The violent rebound effect that characterized the new generation Formula 1 cars in the 2022 season, which was exacerbated at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, caused the drivers and several teams to prompt the FIA to take measures for safety reasons.
The international federation responded before the start of the weekend in Canada, issuing a statement announcing the modification of the technical regulations to help combat porpoising. The governing body informed the teams that they planned to formulate a metric to measure the vertical acceleration loads of the cars, which would force the teams to adjust their settings.
FIA single-seater boss Nikolas Tombazis offered teams to add a second support to reinforce the floor, a solution that only Mercedes adapted in early free practice. The Silver Arrows, after their rivals hinted that they had been informed before, removed this element to avoid controversy, since some even hinted that the W13 could be declared illegal.
Additional support of the Mercedes W13 for the 2022 F1 Canadian GP
Pending more meetings this week to reach an agreement on the most talked about issue in the 2022 season, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said the FIA did not follow the correct procedures in issuing the new technical directive.
“For us, these technical directives are not applicable,” said the Swiss after the race in Canada. “It is something that we mentioned to the FIA, the reasons why they are not applicable, and that is that there is a regulation to clarify in some way how to approach or maintain control.
“You can not change the regulation through a technical directive, and that is how it is governed,” continued the head of Ferrari.
The international federation could promote a modification of the rules without the approval of the teams for safety reasons, but it would first have to be ratified by the World Motor Sport Council . The next meeting of this council will take place at the end of the month, before the British Grand Prix, so in theory such a rule change could be ready by the time the race is held at Silverstone.
“Even for safety reasons, what can the FIA do? They must first consult with the TAC [Technical Advisory Committee], change the regulations and go directly to the World Motor Sport Council to formally approve the modification, without having the approval of the teams for security reasons,” Binotto said.
“But you don’t change the regulations with a technical directive, so that’s why we talked to the FIA, because for us it is not applicable,” he continued. “In fact, I think they were issued in error, as the metrics weren’t applied, and the extra brackets weren’t fitted to any cars this weekend, it was a lot of noise for nothing.
The Ferrari boss admitted that the issue of porpoising was worth addressing in the future to avoid long-term driver physical problems, but believes this could be mitigated without FIA intervention, as teams would develop these cars relatively quickly. new.
In Montreal, the most affected teams, including Mercedes, saw how this rebound effect was reduced while they achieved performance with a higher car: ” Porpoising is something that we have to review in the future and try to reduce it through, perhaps a technical change.
“I think the cars will be developed. It is a technical issue, and we have to discuss how we do it, for me, it is something still open,” said the head of the most successful team in the history of Formula 1.
