While the summer break is now in full flow, with teams and drivers enjoying some well-deserved time off, the 2022 Formula 1 campaign may take a new twist when the season resumes in three weeks’ time, once the season resumes with the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. This is because the FIA will introduce a new Technical Directive (TD), which officially has the goal of reducing the porpoising issue in the second part of the championship.
Despite the fact that the bouncing aero effect has affected less cars in recent weeks, it was still described as a concern by some teams in the paddock, especially Mercedes. Toto Wolff, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have constantly expressed their concern with porpoising and urged the FIA to take action on this matter, trying to argue that it bouncing represents a long-term health problem for drivers. The German team was the most vocal team in support of the FIA clamping down on porpoising and even produced figures to attempt to show that brain damage could be possible for drivers due to experiencing the uncomfortable problem.
The Technical Directive was initially scheduled to be introduced a few weeks ago, but several teams were against it being forced in such a short period of time, without the possibility to completely understand the effects of the changes required.
The FIA feel there is a ‘grey area’ regarding the current rules and regulations with regards to the cars’ floors, a situation that they believe will be rectified once the new TD will be introduced in Belgium.
As recently reported by German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, Mercedes believe “convinced that Ferrari/Red Bull would lose two/three tenths due to the TD in Spa. I am not sure about that.” – Michael Schmidt wrote for AMuS – “for Ferrari and Red Bull are a bit too relaxed about the TD in Spa.”
However, it seems that Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing do not seem very worried about the changes, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner explaining that the RB18’s floor already complies with the Technical Directive: “No, zero,” Christian Horner said when asked if he was concerned by the TD – “I mean, I don’t know. Maybe he’s referring to… I don’t know, cars that are around him at the moment. I’ve no idea but absolutely no issues or concerns on our floor.” – he added.
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Supposedly, Christian Horner and Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto were the two team principals to complain about the introduction of the anti-porpoising Technical Directive, when the plan was announced back in June; however, he’s labelled these rumours as “total rubbish”.
But the Maranello team and Red Bull are indeed worried about the rule changes for the 2023 Formula 1 campaign, as the FIA are planning to introduce new regulations that will see the floor edges raised by 25mm: “Ferrari and Red Bull are more concerned about the 2023 floor changes,” he said.
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