‘Porpoising’ has been the real star of the F1 2022 season! And teams like Mercedes and Ferrari have faced the worst wrath of these unforgiving oscillations. Amidst the constant efforts to save their drivers from unnecessary back pain or health issues, the FIA gave some directives in order to reduce the effect.
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Several of them spoke out against the phenomenon in a driver’s meet. Many of them, including Carlos Sainz, George Russell, and Pierre Gasly, have openly admitted to being scared of what harm the porpoising can cause to the drivers in the future. In fact, Russell even claimed that the bouncing is a “recipe for disaster” and might cause a big incident.
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After FIA gave the mid-season technical directives, that’ll alleviate the effect of the porpoising, Mercedes had already implemented them in Montreal on Friday. They installed a second-floor stay in one day although directives came out on Thursday. However, this did not go unnoticed by Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto. He said, “Toto says they did it overnight. Ferrari would not be capable of doing this.”
| Mattia Binotto was skeptical of how Mercedes managed to install a second floor stay so quickly.
“Toto says they did it overnight. Ferrari would not be capable of doing this.”
“I’m surprised that a team is so strong to manage it overnight. I can only trust what he says.”
— Ferrari News 
(@FanaticsFerrari) June 20, 2022
“I’m surprised that a team is so strong to manage it overnight. I can only trust what he says.”
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Wolff has very recently claimed that Mercedes has actually fixed their porpoising. Arguably, this can become a point of contention for many teams who saw the Silver Arrows star Lewis Hamilton struggling heavily one race ago. Many will hawk-eye their progress and might raise questions regarding the same.
Technical directives set to favor Mercedes?
What are the technical directives for reduced porpoising? Hamilton’s back pain caused many to look to the FIA. It even resulted in drivers amassing and speaking out against it. This caused the FIA to give out new instructions that revolved around ‘Ride Heights’.
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Reports suggest that measured metrics will decide a lot. A certain amount of limited bouncing is allowed on each car. Notably, this will all depend on the car’s vertical acceleration.
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FIA will review everything, including planks and skids on the car. Further, though these are short-term goals, they will surely look out for long-term solutions. Well, do you think the FIA has taken the right step? Or should the teams have sorted this out?
