More Formula 1 drivers have backed the FIA’s decision to intervene over porpoising, as they see it as the best way to make teams improve the ride of their cars.
The FIA issued a technical directive to F1 teams this week stating it will monitor the vertical movement drivers are being subjected. They intend to take action against teams whose cars exhibit excessive porpoising.
Fernando Alonso said drivers went to the FIA in order to ensure safety isn’t being compromised to improve performance.
“I think the drivers simply wanted to ask some help from the FIA because obviously, coming from us, it’s difficult sometimes to go to our team and tell them to lose performance just because we have pain or whatever,” said the 20-year F1 veteran. “So if they can do it for us, it’s easier.”
Sergio Perez, whose Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen has said he believes changing the regulations mid-season is wrong, argued that the FIA was right to address the matter.
“I think all the teams are chasing the balance or chasing the downforce,” Perez said. “And the way to find it is to go as low as possible. But there certainly is a limit on how low you can go.
“We all want to be lower than we currently are, but we all have limits where we can go to. If you’re getting off limits, that is not helpful for the drivers, like a few of the drivers’ comments last weekend. So I think it’s a good intervention from FIA to try and calm it down.”
The matter came to a head in Baku where several drivers experienced especially uncomfortable rides. Carlos Sainz Jnr, who was among the most vocal drivers on the subject, said he felt their concerns had been recognised.
“The FIA has definitely listened to the conversation that we had with them in the last few weeks, and the drivers’ complaints,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t expect such an early response or such an early action.
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“We really need to look into the detail of what are the actions that we need to take to make these cars, in the future, a bit more benign for the drivers. But let’s see how these rules are.”
Sainz added that he expected any rules change to impact every team, not just those whose drivers had spoken out about the issue. “I think they’re going to start affecting pretty much every team on the grid because everyone is just running as stiff and as low as they can. But I’m interested to see how how it affects everyone really, to see…
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