Several drivers, particularly those from Mercedes, have urged Formula 1’s governing body to work to eliminate the effect of new-generation cars bouncing off the tarmac for health and safety reasons.
The FIA responded almost immediately with a technical directive sent to teams before the start of the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix, detailing a plan of action. As well as initiating a data collection exercise to try to create maximum margin for vertical acceleration and car movement, teams have been allowed to make some changes to their floors to help strengthen them from Montreal.
The impact on the competitive order , as well as any restrictions that the federation may impose in the future regarding the set-up of the cars, is unclear, but the teams that are suffering less from porpoising are not happy about these changes. .
Charles Leclerc, in particular, is upset that Ferrari could lose some of its lead after working hard to solve the problem, simply because its rivals have not stepped up to the plate. Asked by Motorsport.com about what the FIA did, he replied: “On the one hand, I understand George [Russell]’s point of view, because when you see him and Lewis [Hamilton] get out of their car in Baku, it’s something bad”.
“But on the other hand, you can’t underestimate the amount of work that has been done in recent months by the teams to get to the bottom of the problem,” he continued. “This has been our priority since the first time we tested these cars, we have worked to solve the setbacks.”
“I think the improvement has been huge, and now all the work we’ve done is thrown away because there is a team that has more problems than others,” said the Monegasque. “This is my point of view, I understand that in Mercedes things are going wrong, but I think maybe there are solutions for this.”
George Russell, who led drivers’ complaints to the FIA in Baku to intervene, explained that it was too early to suggest that teams could lose any competitive advantage with these measures.
“At the end of the day, the federation is the one who dictates the rules, and they can make any changes to the rules whenever they want,” he said. “Nobody knows if that’s going to improve the performance of a car or if it’s going to have a negative effect, so we’ll have to see.”
“There are so many different aspects and elements of these cars that raising them doesn’t necessarily reduce [the rebound effect], so it’s two issues, porpoising and bottoming ,” said the Englishman. “I hope it will be easier for everyone to drive and it won’t affect anyone’s performance.”
