Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes it will be a real travesty for F1 if the FIA enforces technical changes to tackle porpoising that according to him will benefit only one team in the 2023 season.
The FIA recently announced its plans to introduce a host of measures to tackle porpoising after many drivers complained about the potential health risks associated with vigorous bouncing.
FIA step in over car bouncing and issue a Technical Directive #F1.FIA step in over car bouncing and issue a Technical Directive #F1. https://t.co/UEUIGawB0l
This includes raising the floor edges as well as the diffuser throat and could have a major impact on car design for all teams. The FIA also plans to crack down on the flexi-floor design that has been front and center of Red Bull and Ferrari’s designs thus far in 2022.
However, this has not gone down well with all the teams on the F1 grid. It is understood that as many as five outfits are not on board with the changes that are set to be put in place from the 2022 F1 Belgian GP weekend. Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Haas, Williams, and Red Bull are the ones opposing this directive.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes that the directive is a result of aggressive lobbying by Mercedes, one of the teams worst affected by porpoising since the advent of the new technical regulations.
Speaking to Sky Sports during the 2022 F1 French GP weekend, the 48-year-old said:
“I think the problem is what they’re looking at as a remedy for next year. The directive [for Spa], it’s neither here nor there for us. I think there’s an awful lot of lobbying to change the regulations significantly for next year, so a certain team can run its car lower and benefit from that concept.”
Horner went on to add:
“It’s a very late point in the year to be doing this. I think the [FIA] president is doing the right thing, he’s collating all of the information, and hopefully a sensitive solution can be found. Because it’s too late in the day for fundamental regulation changes, which something like that would be. Just run the car higher: it’s easy. We haven’t had a problem all year. There’s only one team that’s had a big problem.”
Red Bull boss does not want the FIA to make a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to porpoising with proposed technical directive
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner feels that there are plenty of smart minds in the sport that can tackle the issue of porpoising. The Briton is not in favor of what he feels is a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction from the FIA with this mid-season technical directive.
Speaking in the aforementioned interview with Sky Sports, Horner said:
“We’ve got some of the most talented engineers in the world in this sport, and I can almost guarantee you, if we come back next year, there would probably be no cars with issues. With the last few races, it looked OK. Here it looks OK. So I think what we don’t want to do is knee-jerk into an overreaction that could have fundamental impacts on next year’s cars.”
Horner is not the only one who feels this proposed directive can only benefit Mercedes in 2023. One unnamed team boss said:
“The changes are so extreme for 2023 because Mercedes claim that they have found 40% more downforce for next year, so they have urged the FIA to act. If Mercedes have genuinely done that, then you may as well hand them the world championship now.”
Two races and the summer break stood between now and the last week of August when the directive is set to be put in place from the 2022 F1 Belgian GP onwards. It remains to be seen if the FIA will push forward with it or if the teams opposing it can find three more parties to form a super majority to veto it outright.
What’s your favorite race of the 2022 season so far? Tell us in the comments below..
quick links
More from Sportskeeda
Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/red-bull/2022-mexican-grand-prix-odds
