'Total rubbish' - Mercedes and Red Bull team principals engaged in spat over porpoising dispute
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Updated 10/07/2022 at 11:46 GMT
New regulations will be brought in from the Belgian Grand Prix which attempt to address the advantages some Formula One teams have when it comes to the porpoising phenomenon. New rules will try to ensure that more area of the floor has to retain a 9mm depth, but both Mercedes and Red Bull are on different sides of the argument.
Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner and Mercedes GP Executive Director Toto Wolff talk in the Paddock during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain
Image credit: Getty Images
There is a row bubbling away between Mercedes and Red Bull over changes to floor stiffness to address problems with porpoising.
The FIA is introducing new rules to ensure that there is less advantage for any teams who may have found workarounds that still meet obligations. Those designs allow for cars to run closer to the ground with a more flexible floor which is less susceptible to wear and bouncing.
Autosport reports that an F1 Commission meeting has discovered that some teams have split their skid blocks in order to meet regulations but protects some sections from being worn down, meeting the 9mm depth checks after races.
The Belgian Grand Prix marks the start of new rules, which will see different checks on the thickness of the flooring which will make specific areas alone meeting the measurements being less useful.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “As a matter of fact, some teams have skids that actually disappear when the car hits the bottom.
“The reason for skids is that they are the limitation of how much plank wear you can have. And if a skid can disappear miraculously into the floor, that is clearly against the regulations.
“Then the second thing is a plank that can deflect or that basically also moves away more than the tolerance should be. The tolerance is one millimetre. And if a plank moves away many more millimetres up into the car obviously, you gain some performance there too.
“I think the first one [skid tricks] is going to disappear for Spa... because apparently skid material is not available [until then]. And the second one is going to be clarified in next year's regulations.”
Red Bull team head Christian Horner denied any accusations of gamesmanship.
“That’s total rubbish. Total rubbish,” he claimed. “I think we’re getting issues mixed up here.
“Maybe he’s referring to, I don’t know, cars that are around him at the moment. I have no idea, but I have absolutely no issues or concerns on our floor.”
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