On Thursday, the FIA issued a TD, a Technical Directive, stating that they would intervene against porpoising. One of the temporary measures the teams were allowed to apply in Canada, however, was the installation of a second 'stay', or a rod that connects the chassis to the floor and makes the floor stiffer. The teams were already allowed to use a stay, but as the rules in Canada on porpoising by the TD were to become stricter, the FIA gave the teams permission to use a second stay. Mercedes made good use of this and drove with a second stay attached to the car's floor on Friday. Rival teams found this unusual, because Mercedes had managed to respond to the changes within a day. Moreover, the TD is at odds with the official technical rules, which do not mention the use of a second rod, so one of the rival teams indicated that they would not be surprised if a protest against Mercedes would follow. Below is the Mercedes W13 with the second bar (in black, under the letter R of PETRONAS), taken on Friday.
Mercedes remove stay
During the third free practice in Canada, the second bar had disappeared from the Mercedes cars. In this way, at least no controversy could arise if a protest were to be made against the team of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell after qualifying or after the race. RacingNews365.com enquired with the team, whose spokesman responded that the second bar had been removed because it had proved "ineffective" during Friday's practice sessions. There was no mention of an impending protest. In the photo below, taken during Free Practice 3, you can see that the second rod has disappeared again.
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