FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has confirmed that new technical regulations to address porpoising in 2023 have been submitted to the World Motor Sport Council following discussions with the drivers and teams. The phenomenon of cars bouncing across the tarmac came as a surprising side effect of the new F1 rules for many teams this year. Some teams had it better under control than others but, following particular struggles for some at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the FIA decided to intervene. As of the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix, at the end of August, new rules will come into effect and F1 cars can be taken out of the race if they bounce too much.
From 25 millimetres to 15 millimetres
It is a temporary solution, after which a new set of rules will take effect in 2023 with the aim of banishing porpoising from Formula 1 for good. Under the guise of safety, the FIA wanted to raise the ride height of the cars by 25 millimetres. Some in the sport were not in favour of this, given that it would be a significant change. Red Bull were amongst those unhappy about it, while Mercedes encouraged the proposed changes. The FIA could make the changes unilaterally if they wanted to, without the teams' consent, due to the issue being about safety, but the governing body opted to look for a compromise. That was found: 15 millimetres instead of 25 millimetres, RacingNews365.com was able to reveal earlier this week. "It's a compromise that we're just going to have to incorporate for next year. We'll just have to deal with it and find a solution. That's what we've been good at over the years, and we'll just have to do that with this challenge." Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explained.
New rules submitted to WMSC
Ben Sulayem held talks with all 20 Formula 1 drivers and the 10 team owners during the process, and has since announced that the final touches have been made to the regulations, which will be sent to the World Motor Sport Council. This highest FIA body can confirm these rules through a vote which, if passed, means that the regulations will then be included in the rulebook for 2023. Following this, the 10 F1 teams will have to go back to the drawing board for their cars for the coming season. In theory, the WMSC could also decide to reject the rules and then the whole process will have to be restarted, but the chances of that happening are very small.
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Having discussed the porpoising issue with all 20 @F1 drivers & 10 team principals, I’m happy to confirm that we will be submitting updated 2023 Technical Regulations to the WMSC this week to address this, in addition to the measures already taken for the remainder of this season — Mohammed Ben Sulayem (@Ben_Sulayem) August 8, 2022
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