Porpoising rule changes would have “minimal” competitive impact

Ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, the FIA issued a technical directive to teams to intervene on the ongoing porpoising issue amid safety concerns raised by a number of drivers.

The FIA is set to focus on gathering data this weekend, but will look to apply a threshold for how much the cars can porpoise to prevent drivers from encountering the kind of discomfort many faced in Baku, where the issue hit its worst level yet.

Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have been among the most vocal about the safety issue surrounding porpoising, having struggled for pace against Ferrari and Red Bull at the front of the pack this year due to the ongoing problem with its car.

But some figures in the paddock have been more cynical about the safety complaints, including Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who suggested it would be unfair to penalise teams that were not struggling with porpoising by changing the rules.

Speaking on Thursday in Montreal, Gasly – who warned in Baku that drivers would need a cane to walk at 30 if the issue was not addressed – said they were “putting the interest of any team or any car aside” and that the porpoising was “clearly too much”. 

“You can’t even realise what it’s like, just watching from the onboards or watching from the outside,” Gasly said.

“I’m just happy they understood this is a serious topic for all of us going forward. We are not here just to complain just because we want to complain about something, we are not like that.

“We all love the sport as it is. We all try to just make it like a better place and push it forward.

“This is just a concern for our health, all of us before even relating it to any performance, just putting all the performance aside.”

The short-term impact of setting a limit for the porpoising would hurt the teams struggling the most with it, as it would force them to increase the ride height of their cars to curb the issue, impacting on their performance.

But Gasly felt any impact on the pecking order was “going to be minimal”.

“I think we are talking about, there are things that could be changed that would affect a very, very little part of the performance of everyone’s cars,” he said.

Haas F1 boss Gunther Steiner recognised the cynicism teams may have about major rule changes mid-season, but…