Michael Schmidt from Auto Motor und Sport talks about FIA’s plans for the 2023 floor changes, which have led to complaints from Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull who feel the main purpose of these changes is to help Mercedes reduce the current performance deficit:
There was quite some discussions in the paddock about the 2023 floor changes?
Michael Schmidt: “There was trouble and there will be more. Six teams are completely against it. Leading the way are Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull, of course, who feel disadvantaged. Mattia Binotto even told me that they are thinking about a protest if it comes to that. This is a short-term rule change, it has to go through the normal voting process. Mattia Binotto says that the safety arguments don’t hold water because from Spa onwards we have measurements, there will be a limit that we are not allowed to exceed. He says that if we will exceed it, we are unsafe, so the car will be disqualified. Binotto says that if there is a limit, why do I need an additional rule. The quality safety seal is then taken care of by the measurement.
The other thing that upsets Ferrari and Red Bull as well as some of the other teams, what the FIA is proposing now, to pull the floor up 2.5 cm at the edges and to strengthen the diffuser a bit, is exactly what Mercedes actually proposed to the FIA in Canada for this Technical Directive to solve the bouncing problem. The new rule is clearly taking the power away from the front part of the floor and gives more power to the diffuser, and Ferrari and Red Bull say that this clearly solves Mercedes’ problems. They have the problem at the front and therefore can’t drive lower and Ferrari/Red Bull don’t see why they should pay the price for Mercedes not being able to fix their own problems. There will be a lot of more dispute on this issue.”
“The FIA is already doing the measurements.” – Auto Motor und Sport continue – “That’s also a bit of a hair pull. The FIA only measures on the straights. There is no more bouncing there, all the teams have that under control. The limit value if you convert it would be about 10G, and I don’t think any team has exceeded 3.5/4G in the last few races. The problem is more in the corners, there is still bouncing, especially in the fast ones. But not quite as bad as at the beginning but it’s still there and that’s where you could drive off and that’s where the FIA don’t measure because it’s extremely difficult. There are not only vertical forces, but also lateral forces and then there might be also load changes. There is no measurement method for that. So the FIA will continue to limit themselves to measurements on the straights, and that will lead to nothing.
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But is there a compromise in sight? Michael Schmidt explains: “The six teams suggest a maximum of 10mm (1cm) higher on the floor edges and no changes to the diffuser. In my opinion, the FIA’s approach is quite dangerous. They may be shooting themselves in the foot with those rules. At the moment, the responsibility is on the teams to make sure their car is safe, if it is unsafe, the teams are liable. Now that the FIA intervenes and decides what is safe and what is not safe, and sets some rule that they think is safe and something happens anyway, the FIA has to take the full responsibility. And if they take this further, we will end up in a situation where the FIA decides which tyres to use, if it’s a bit wet you can’t run slicks anymore, etc. This leads to nowhere.” – Auto Motor und Sport concluded.
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