Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner has waded into the debate over the FIA's technical directive addressing porpoising, questioning the fairness of a rule that may unnecessarily shake up F1's order. On Thursday afternoon ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA confirmed that they had decided to proceed with adjustments that they say should reduce or eliminate the porpoising that has been widely seen since the introduction of new aero regulations in 2022. An FIA statement noted "concerns in relation to the immediate physical impact on the health of the drivers, a number of whom have reported back pain following recent events", adding that "excessive fatigue or pain experienced by a driver could have significant consequences should it result in a loss of concentration". Lewis Hamilton was among the drivers who had called for FIA intervention following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the Briton appearing to be struggling with discomfort as he removed himself from his W13 after the race. Speaking to media including RacingNews365.com , Steiner questioned the fairness of introducing such a fundamental rule change mid-season. "We need to measure what it is, actually," Steiner said. "Some of the cars are pretty bad. And there is a solution — just raise the ride height, but then you go slow. Who wants to go slow?"
Steiner: Is it really fair?
Steiner also referenced a similar amendment thataffected the pecking order midway through 2013, when Pirelli changed theconstruction of their tyres after a series of delaminations. Following that rule change, Red Bull's SebastianVettel romped to the title, winning the final nine races of the season after havingwon only four of the first 10. "It’s like the middle of the [2013]season when we had the change of tyres," Steiner argued. "You changesomething fundamentally, you could change the pecking order completely again.Is that really fair? No. "[There is] the safety factor, but that couldbe approached as well — if it is too dangerous, just raise your ride height. "Themeasurement with this is to find where it is dangerous, find the limit ofsomething."
Steiner questions policing of new rule
With the FIA's statement acknowledging that theformula for determining the acceptable level of porpoising is still underconsideration, Steiner also questioned how such a rule would be implemented andpoliced. "Can you imagine if there is a number set after FP2 and somebodydoesn’t achieve it in FP3? What do you then, exclude them? Fine them? I don’tknow," Steiner continued. "We measuresomething, we put a threshold on it, and what we do if someone goes above thethreshold I don’t know. "If you are above this threshold, I don't knowwhat penalty you could give. It's pretty fresh, this thing. "But let's start with measuring."
Most read
