Christian Horner accuses Mercedes of 'bitching' over porpoising health concerns

Ewan Gale
Sunday 12 June 2022 16:25

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has accused rivals of pushing for drivers to "bitch" about issues related to porpoising.

Mercedes, and Lewis Hamilton especially, suffered throughout the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, with the seven-time enduring severe back pain such was the ferocity of the bouncing of his W13 around the Baku City Circuit.

Russell triggered suggestions of talks over the future of the current technical regulations due to drivers being unable to sustain punishment for the next four years.

Hamilton was in visible discomfort after the 51-lap race, with team principal Toto Wolff warning the seven-time champion may be unable to participate at next weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

In contrast, Red Bull is one of a select few teams that has been able to overcome the aerodynamic phenomenon this season, with a much smoother ride from its RB18 despite being able to run extremely close to the floor.

Asked what he would do as team principal if his drivers were driving a car with such violent porpoising, he replied: "Tell them to bitch as much as they could over the radio and make as big an issue out of it as they possibly could.

"It is part of the game."

On whether that is what he believes rivals are doing, Horner insisted: "Of course it is.

"Look, it is uncomfortable but there are remedies to that but it is detrimental to the car performance.

"What is the easiest thing to do? Complain from a safety point of view but each team has a choice.

"If it was a genuine safety concern across the whole grid then it is something that should be looked at but if it is only affecting isolated people or teams, then that is something that the team should potentially deal with."

Horner - "Unfair" to penalise teams who have done job well

Any potential change for safety reasons could see ride heights raised or even a radical aerodynamic redesign, although the latter would be a long-term solution.

On whether he would accept any changes to the regulations if safety concerns continue to grow, Horner said: "They could always stick a bigger plank on it if they wanted.

"The easiest thing is obviously to raise the car so a team has a choice to do that. You have a choice where you run your car and you should never run a car that is unsafe.

"But I think that is more for the technical guys because there are certain cars that have some issues and certain cars with very few issues.

"It would seem unfair to penalise the ones who have done a decent job versus the ones who have perhaps missed the target slightly."