A recent FIA ruling has granted Mercedes extra time to fix Lewis Hamilton’s porpoising issues without receiving a penalty. Silver Arrows technical director Mike Elliott recently admitted that Hamilton and George Russell may have been disqualified in Baku last month, had the FIA’s new driver safety measures been in place.
Hamilton and Russell have both had to battle with porpoising this season, but the former may have had it worse due to an experimental car set-up. That was particularly evident at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last month, where Hamilton had to grit his teeth just to see the finish line as persistent bouncing at high speed caused crippling back pain.
The FIA have already announced that a technical directive (TD) will be introduced, using measures that determine whether driver safety is put at risk on a given race weekend. Any team found to be overstepping the mark will face penalties and Elliott claimed that Mercedes could have been punished if the TD was active in Baku.
“I think in Baku, if we’re going back through and looking at the races using that metric, is one we wouldn’t have passed,” he said. “If you looked at where we were [during the British GP], we wouldn’t have even triggered the metric. Well, I think it’s difficult.”
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The original plan was for the TD to come into effect in time for the French Grand Prix on July 24, but the goal posts have since been moved with the FIA now setting the deadline at the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28.
Some Red Bull fans feel as though Mercedes will benefit hugely from being allowed extra time to get on top of their porpoising issue without punishment. Team principal Christian Horner recently called for teams to take more responsibility for producing faulty cars.
Mercedes have gradually reigned in their porpoising problems this season and Hamilton enjoyed a white-knuckle afternoon last time out at Silverstone where the W13 came into its own on the smooth, high-speed circuit.
For the second year running, the British Grand Prix didn’t quite favor Red Bull as issues with Max Verstappen’s car prevented him from finishing higher than P7, while Sergio Perez had to settle for second behind first-time winner Carlos Sainz.
