It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
I think that's pretty obvious really. Shame for Charles, and the spectators.
On the porpoising thing, RBR have built a better car and should be able to reap the benefits. There is literally no point in having the teams design their own cars if someone steps in with a rule change because some teams are not able to figure out an issue as well others.
This is just another instance of F1 not being what people really want.
I think that was a fudge too far already.
Despite being pro-Lewis I can understand why many would take a dim view of a rule change that proportionally benefitted Mercedes more than others.
I wonder if the budget cap is in part what prevents a team just going with a whole new concept mid season ?
But driver health should be a prime factor.
I don't like it, but I lean toward the solution being in Mercedes' own hands: try setups until just before Parc firm, then set the car up to drive safely, however slow that is
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/f1-mercedes-bouncing-ungesund-fuer-fahrer/
"The competition takes the Mercedes statements with a dose of sarcasm. "They should just drive higher," says the opponents. According to team manager Toto Wolff, this is not easily representable. "At high speeds, our car hits bump stops. Even if we jacked it up, the bouncing would remain somewhere."
A source in the paddock states: "If everyone had the same problem, it would be a different story. Then F1 would have to do something. Especially if it would pose a safety threat. It mainly affects Mercedes here. Why should you change anything then?"
Magnussen has suffered from nerve pain in his arm and jaw as a result of porpoising.
Ricciardo said he felt genuinely rattled after Baku, and the McLaren is one of the smoothest cars on the grid.
Sainz has spoken out repeatedly on the topic.
And Gasly has eloquently noted that solutions are required "to save us from ending up with a cane at 30 years old" and highlighted that he needs physiotherapy after every session - not just every weekend - to deal with the damage to his intervertebral discs.
Is there any data on whether the cars are actually able to follow closer?
https://the-race.com/formula-1/teams-blocking-ideas-that-can-improve-f1-drivers-ride-comfort/
https://www.fia.com/news/fia-takes-steps-reduce-porpoising-interests-safety
Effectively they’re kicking it back on the teams to adjust their cars so they no longer porpoise, and will examine plank wear and vertical acceleration in order to enforce this. Technical measures to actually reduce the phenomenon will only come in the medium term.
Toto Wolff has already stated that just raising the ride height won’t stop the problem for them, so Mercedes could be facing potential exclusion.
Which is laying down a marker that if they don’t comply, they’ll be in breach of rules. Seems fair enough to me. If they cannot cure their problem unless they raise the ride height, then so be it, that’s what they need to do.
Now we have a Technical Directive which will ultimately give further advantage to the Championship leader; Red Bill don’t seem to have an issue with porpoising, so they’re unlikely to have to change much.
And Merc have a serious issue which is injuring their drivers and crippling their performance. They’re not sure they can actually dial it out with ride height adjustment; apparently at Monaco they jacked the rear suspension up as far as it would go, and it was still bouncing about like a demented Zebedee.
It’s a serious issue and needs to be dealt with. Apparently there were technical solutions available, but the FIA have gone for the approach which favours teams who are already on top of it. The days of FIA standing for Ferrari International Aid are long past.
Rift Amplification
Brackley, Northamptonshire
www.riftamps.co.uk