FIA issues new technical directive to control porpoising in view of driver’s safety
In light of the concerns raised recently by many in the paddock regarding the bouncing of the cars, the FIA have intervened, issuing a new technical directive to reduce proposing. The governing body said the change was to ensure driver safety as many drivers on the grid have complained about health issues.
With the FIA introducing new aerodynamic regulations for this year, ground-effect cars have made a return to F1. This, in turn, has caused the F1 cars to bounce a lot on the straights, which has affected a lot of teams this season.
The porpoising has affected some teams more than others, with Constructor's champions Mercedes the most severely impacted. The bouncing was at its peak during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which consists of a 2.2km long straight. With Mercedes struggling the worst with porpoising, Lewis Hamilton was visibly exhausted coming out of the car after the race in Baku.
The FIA has announced that it will now be putting restrictions on "vertical oscillations" that the teams must not exceed, essentially telling them that they must set up their cars to ensure they are not going to bounce and porpoise as much, even if it costs them lap time.
In a statement, the FIA outlined that “it is necessary to intervene to require that teams make the necessary adjustments to reduce or to eliminate this phenomenon.
The reactions from the paddock have been mixed, to say the least, as drivers and team principals have expressed opposing views regarding the directive.
“I've definitely been having a lot more headaches in the past months, but I've not seen a specialist about it, so I'm not taking it too seriously. I've just taken painkillers, so hopefully I don't have any concussions," Hamilton said Friday.
“Putting the technical stuff aside... I cannot stress more how important health is for us," he said. "Safety has to be paramount and has, has to be the most important thing.”
Meanwhile, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and reigning world champion Max Verstappen have opposed the rule change introduced by the FIA.
Leclerc believes it is improper for the FIA to step in and says that the team and driver should instead collaborate to achieve the ideal balance. Ferrari have suffered a little from the problem, but not nearly as much as teams like Mercedes.
“I don’t completely agree on my side. I think it’s the team’s responsibility to give me a car that is OK to drive, and until now, I didn’t have any particular problem with it. Yes, it is stiffer than last year’s car, whether it’s undriveable or hard on myself, I personally don’t think it is. On our side, we found solutions to make it better.”
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was more vocal in his opposition to the change and suggested to simply increase the ride height of the car to mitigate the porpoising.
"Regardless if it's going to help us or work against us, always these rule changes in the middle of the year, I don't think is correct," Verstappen said.
"Of course, I understand the safety part of it, but I think if you talk to every engineer in the paddock, if you raise your car, you will have less issues anyway.
"But I don't think it's correct now they have to intervene and start applying these kinds of rules, that if you can't deal with the porpoising that you have to go up on rideheight, because it is very simple: just go up on rideheight and you won't have those issues.