FIA warned it 'could change the F1 pecking order' with new porpoising safety directive

F1 2022

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FIA warned it 'could change the F1 pecking order' with new porpoising safety directive

Teams could be disqualified if it fails to meet FIA targets

Ian Parkes

Thursday 16 June 2022 22:32 Updated: 22:40

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has warned the FIA it could unfairly change the pecking order in its attempt to arrest the violent levels of porpoising recently witnessed in F1.

On the grounds of safety, the FIA has felt it "necessary to intervene to require that the teams make the necessary adjustments to reduce or to eliminate this phenomenon" that left Lewis Hamilton suffering from severe back pain after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.

The FIA is to develop a metric, the exact mathematical formula of which is still being analysed, "based on the car’s vertical acceleration, that will give a quantitative limit for an acceptable level of vertical oscillations".

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It is understood if the prescribed limit is exceeded during the first two practice sessions, a team will be forced to adjust its set-up, and most likely the ride height.

If a team fails to hit the targets during FP3, the cars will be classed as dangerous and not allowed to participate across the rest of the weekend.

Following the race in Azerbaijan, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner went so far as to suggest certain teams - referring to Mercedes but without naming them - were 'bitching' in order to get the rules changed.

Asked whether Horner was 'playing it up a bit', Steiner suggested the directive could work in Mercedes' favour.

"Some of the cars are pretty bad, but there is a solution, just raise the ride height but then you go slow. Who wants to go slow?" said Steiner.

"It's like, I don't know how many years ago, in the middle of the season we had a change of tyres.

"Something like this, you change something fundamentally and it could change the pecking order completely. Is that really fair?

"Yes, it's a safety factor but just raise your ride height. The measurement of this is to find where it's dangerous without changing the regulations, to find the limit of something.

"It's pretty fresh all this so let's see in the next day. I need to speak to my guys. Everyone is still trying to figure it out in the best and most meaningful way."

Steiner - FIA may be 'over-optimistic'

Steiner has questioned the validity of attempting to take the measurements required over the course of just two hours in the Friday sessions

Offering his view on the subject just hours after the Technical Directive was issued, he added: "The measuring is one thing, the decision that comes out of the measuring is another.

"Investigating is something I don't have an issue with, why would I? If there is so much being made out of it [the porpoising], and there is something behind it, it is the right thing to do to find out what it is before you make a decision.

"Because the more data, the more information you have, the better qualified the decision you can make afterwards."

Suggested to Steiner that attempting to set parameters ahead of final practice would not be easy, he replied: "It's a little bit optimistic but we will find out.

"You need to start somewhere. If they say 'Okay, we were too optimistic'...imagine if there is a number set after FP2 and somebody doesn't achieve it, then what do you do? You exclude them? I don't know."

Steiner conceded his team's cars were "close to the limit" of the porpoising in Baku that left Mick Schumacher sore.