James Allison has voiced Mercedes' concerns regarding the FIA's short-term plan to tackle porpoising during and beyond the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. The team's Chief Technical Officer was present in Montreal for the first time in 2022, as the Silver Arrows continue their push to return to the front of the grid. His appearance also comes on the race weekend at which the FIA have taken the decision to act on porpoising, issuing the teams with a technical directive and possibly threatening disqualification for those who do not comply. On the whole, Mercedes are pleased to have seen the governing body act so swiftly to protect their drivers, and say they will work with the FIA to help to find a permanent fix for bouncing. "I think it's welcomed that the FIA are recognising that it's not a happy situation where lap time and drivers' health are in a very sharp contrast, or conflict, with each other," said Allison, speaking to Sky Sports F1 . "And I think, as a sport, it's really helpful if that's recognised and we try to tiptoe our way out of the sort of corner that the sport is entered into at the moment. "And certainly we're very keen on working constructively with the FIA, as will everyone else in the pit lane."
Mercedes concerned about metric to measure bouncing
However, Mercedes do have concerns regarding the short-term plan mapped out by the FIA ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Allison continued: "I have to say that the general approach of saying we're going to come up with a metric, and then if you don't fall on the right side of that metric they will impose upon you certain changes: that's a tricky way for us. "I think, at a very minimum, if that were the way forward then the metric that is derived, and the data on which it's based, would need to be very transparently communicated and very transparently available, live continuously and viewable by everyone. "I think that would need to be a prerequisite, otherwise we're going to wind up in a really horrid situation where we're told we must do something but we're looking at another car that's bouncing more, and we'd go: 'What about them?.' But if we knew their metrics, it's fine. "But I think the general direction of travel of saying that we need to fix it, as a sport, is extremely, extremely sensible."
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