Ted Kravitz on what Mercedes wanted versus what Mercedes got

Ted Kravitz reckons what Mercedes wanted from the FIA through their porpoising complaints and what they got are two very different stories.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have been the two most vocal drivers when it comes to porpoising, the bouncing that this year’s cars experience as a result of using ground effect aerodynamics.

The Brackley squad has had it worse than most with pundits putting that down to their zero-pod design not helping to stabilise the floor.

But with more drivers voicing their concerns about their long-term health after a bumpy Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the FIA stepped in on Thursday and announced a new technical directive to protect the drivers.

Under that, the FIA will set out a limit on the level of “vertical oscillations” and any team that exceeds that will reportedly have to raise the car’s ride height by 10mm.

This is bad news for Mercedes as, already off the pace, raising the ride height means losing downforce and speed.

Sky Sports’ Kravitz says this interview is “not one that Mercedes were after”.

“When you’re experiencing 10Gs on the bounce on a bump, which is what I experienced in the last race, that’s a heavy, heavy load on the lower part and the top part of your neck…” #F1https://t.co/p6v1ioHf2X

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“It’s quite a surprise because Mercedes have been spending the last couple of weeks and races saying that something should be done to address the bouncing issues, the porpoising of the cars, which is an aerodynamic phenomenon,” he told Sky F1.

“Actually, at the last race, it wasn’t the aerodynamic phenomenon. It was the fact that Mercedes were running their cars very low to the ground and the cars were hitting the track when they hit some bumps.

“Lewis Hamilton was clearly in pain getting out of his car after his Mercedes suffered more porpoising issues in Azerbaijan, prompting Toto Wolff to apologise to him.

“So what Mercedes were wanting to hear from the FIA, was some kind of rule on maybe everybody raising their cars up so that the drivers wouldn’t get a bad back.

“Instead, what they got from the FIA, is almost a taskforce, a technical directive addressing the people whose cars are bouncing, namely Mercedes.

“So this is working against Mercedes and this could have a very negative effect on Lewis Hamilton’s season.

“Based on what they’re saying, the FIA are going to look at ways of stopping the porpoising, on the Mercedes all that means is…