(Motorsport) The FIA has announced that new measures will be introduced to combat ‘porpoising’, keeping in mind the drivers safety with the severe bouncing becoming an increasingly problematic issue in every race. Such is the extent of the problem that seven time World Champion Lewis Hamilton complained of severe pain during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and struggled to get out of his car due to the discomfort. The technical directive issued by the FIA comes before the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend but it remains to be seen if teams will now be able to change the setup of their cars with a limit on the level of "vertical oscillations" being introduced.
The FIA are yet to confirm if the new regulations will be implemented in Montreal with the announcement being made just 24 hours before the first Final Practice begins. A statement issued by the FIA said “Following the eighth round of this year's FIA Formula One World Championship, during which the phenomenon of aerodynamic oscillations ("porpoising") of the new generation of Formula 1 cars, and the effect of this during and after the race on the physical condition of the drivers was once again visible, the FIA, as the governing body of the sport, has decided that, in the interests of the safety, it is necessary to intervene to require that the teams make the necessary adjustments to reduce or to eliminate this phenomenon."
In addition, the FIA will also be investigating in consultation with the teams about how to reduce porpoising. Moreover, the change in regulations are a safety measure as porpoising could distract the drivers and lead to high speed collisions. The support for the change in regulations was unanimous on the paddock, especially after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with the likes of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Toto Wolff being particularly vocal about the issue. The porpoising complaints by the Silver Arrows has led to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to doubt the authenticity of their claims, stating that Mercedes are demanding a change in regulations to get back into the title race after an extremely underwhelming season so far.
Mercedes driver George Russell welcomed the change in regulations by saying “I think this is something that everybody thinks Mercedes is sort of pushing for, but from a pure performance side of things… we don't really want change because if there's change, you never know if it's going in your favour or against you. I think it's something that we as drivers have spoken about globally, that we want change moving forward because what we went through last weekend just wasn't sustainable.
“It doesn't matter what boat you're in, you're either porpoising and you're hitting the ground, or you have no porpoising so you're running the car really close to the ground and you're bottoming, so either way you look at it, it's not great. I think it's promising to see that they've taken action on this straight away and it's not taken them weeks and months and political decisions to change something like this. When it comes to safety, things need to be resolved as soon as possible, so I'm not surprised to see it come in so quickly but I think it's good for everyone.”
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