While several drivers who drive several different single-seaters have expressed concern about the health effects of porpoising and/or tailgating, which cause severe bouncing and therefore jerking at high speeds, a clear fracture reads between the stable managers.
The question of a possible intervention by the FIA in the face of what some consider to be a question of safety, or at least health, is not particularly welcomed by the two most efficient structures of the era which are is open this season.
If Christian Horner, on the side of Red Bull Racinghas already explained that he would find “unfair” to legislate on the subject when not all teams are affected at the same level, Mattia Binotto believes for her part that there is simply a “challenge” to raise, while excluding the idea that it could be a security problem. And this, despite the declarations of its driver Carlos Sainz.
“As for porpoising, I understand that for pilots, it’s not easy to drive in such conditions”said the leader of the Scuderia. “If I look at Carlos’ situation, as you said, he is one of the drivers who supports [le mouvement pour que la FIA intervienne sur le sujet]I think we improved the situation throughout the weekend, we had fewer rebounds today than he had on Friday.”
“So there’s always a way to mitigate the bouncing effect through settings and options [dont nous disposons]. And I think in terms of engineering, it’s a great challenge. So I don’t think it’s a security issue. It’s definitely something that affects the riders, but it’s a technical and set-up challenge that I think is worth taking on.”
“Important to take pilots seriously”
On the side of Andreas Seidl, at the head of McLaren, the speech is more turned towards the concern aroused by the reactions of the pilots, all the more for a team which seems to be among the least affected by this phenomenon but whose pilot , Daniel Ricciardocomplained of back pain and explained that he had difficulty getting out of his cockpit.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that we are the team that suffers the least”explained the director of McLaren to the question of whether, being a structure little affected by this phenomenon, it would be inclined to your favor or against regulatory measures. “Because also today, for example, if you listen to Daniel’s statements after the race, we had quite a few. And that’s why I think it’s important to take these comments from the drivers seriously. .”
“And it’s important to have a discussion in the Technical Advisory Committee about the next step to take moving forward. Because of course it’s easy to say, ‘look, it’s simple to prevent porpoising, just tweaking the settings and sacrificing a bit of performance’ But at the end of the day, due to the competitive nature of the game you’re in, you obviously want to go to the limit of what’s acceptable or what the drivers can overcome on the track. And obviously it could go in the wrong direction. That’s why it’s very important to have this discussion.”