George Russell says some Formula 1 drivers are trying to preserve a competitive advantage by opposing changes to cars on safety grounds.
The Mercedes driver made his comments after the FIA announced yesterday it had taken the first steps towards reducing the effects of ‘porpoising’ and bouncing on drivers.
Drivers from several teams have warned the poor ride in their cars following the introduction of new technical regulations this year has caused them considerable pain, and welcomed the FIA’s announcement. However others have said their cars are performing better over bumps and do not believe the FIA’s intervention is necessary.
Russell claimed drivers who oppose the moves to remedy porpoising are only doing so because they fear it could reduce the competitiveness of their cars.
“There’s obviously a lot of mixed agendas here from different teams and drivers,” he said. “We’ve heard it from Carlos [Sainz Jnr] at times and Checo [Perez] and Max [Verstappen] over the season how bad it’s been.
“But now that their performance seems to be strong, they obviously don’t want changes because it can only hinder them. So it is obviously a bit of a shame to see performance prioritised over safety.”
He pointed out drivers from other teams had serious problems in Baku due to the severity of the bumping they encountered.
“In Baku I could see my pit board but I couldn’t read my pit board because I was bouncing around so much. I saw a video of Lance [Stroll] on one of the laps struggling to change the buttons on the steering wheel because you visibly just saw how much the car was shaking around and how stiff it was and everything.
“We’re all competitive animals here in this sport and we all want to win. But we can’t put our bodies at risk before any of that.”
He said the FIA’s technical directive issued this weekend should serve as a starting point for addressing the ride quality problem.
“With what’s been brought forward this weekend, I think it’s really more of a sticking plaster than the solution. We need to wait and see.
“I think for even the teams suffering the least, it’s still an incredibly aggressive and bumpy ride. And the FIA have access to all of the vertical acceleration loads we’re going through and it’s far beyond what you’d expect is safe to deal with. So bigger conversation is definitely needed moving forward on where we go from here.”
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