It was no big deal in Montreal, but the to pay it will again be a topic of conversation at future races. In Baku it was critical, some pilots suffered excessively and the FIA ​​crashed in Canada with a technical directive that required teams to raise their cars so as not to exceed a maximum vertical acceleration. The problem is that, according to what many main team from paddock and most pilots, this directive contained defects in form and could not be applied, because there are cars that cannot be raised more than millimeters. Eventually some data was collected, but nothing more, and the general feeling of sloppyness remained. The debate will escalate when the World Cup visits another bumpy circuit, or one with high curbs, and the drivers’ backs again suffer the punishment.

Two variables come into play: the real pain of the drivers and the competitiveness of the teams that push the most to change the regulations. Yes, it’s no surprise that Mercedes criticizes the rebound and intends to speed up the introduction of technical innovations; or that Red Bull opts for a conservative top-ranking position. toto wolf he takes some of his opponents’ comments upside down: “All the drivers, at least one per team, spoke of the pain in Baku and the difficulty of keeping the car on track. The team bosses are manipulating what has been said to maintain their competitive advantages, they are playing politics when the FIA ​​has tried to find a solution. All cars, not just the Mercedes, suffered in Baku. It’s a problem we have in F1, a problem in the fundamentals of design. (of these cars), And it has to be solved.”

“People will wonder if our position is sincere, but that’s not my problem. Pérez, Sainz, Ricciardo, Ocon, Magnussen, our two drivers have said it… this is not an eight team problem, it will have to be solved, not only by lifting the cars, because that does not solve the stiffness cars due to their aerodynamic characteristics. Drivers have complained of pain when driving these cars. Back pain, blurred vision and micro compressions. It is something that must be stopped, whatever the solution, to move in this direction”, Toto holds. The geometry of the suspensions and the fact that the wheels now have less rubber and more tires (they went from 13 inches to 18 in 2022) generate more rigidity in the single-seaters. And all those hits, potholes or curbs, go to the spine.

Ferrari and Redbull

In fairness to Mercedes, it doesn’t help that they were able to fit a second slack adjuster seen on the flat bottom of the car just hours after it was cleared by the FIA, “from day to tomorrow”, in the words of Mattia Binotto, something that Ferrari “can’t do”. The engineer believes that “‘porpoising’ should be addressed in the future perhaps with technical changes, but the technical directive cannot be applied because it serves to clarify the rules and not to modify them. Even on a safety issue, the FIA ​​can change the rules and go to the World Council for approval there, without the vote in favor of all the teams. “A little ado for nothing”, assures the boss of Ferrari. Whereas, Christian Horner, The Red Bull boss points out: “Mercedes’ porpoising problem is more serious than in any other car. It depends on the team, it is up to them to control it. They have a very stiff car. His concept is the problem, not the rules.