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Verstappen: "A bit disappointing that there is another rule change"

17 June 2022 at 06:24
Last update 17 June 2022 at 08:50
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  • GPblog.com

Thursday evening the FIA announced that measures are being taken to reduce porpoising. Max Verstappen let it be known in Canada that he is not in favor of the intervention of the international motorsport federation. According to the disappointed Red Bull Racing driver, competitor Mercedes has to solve the problems on its own.

The FIA is going to measure how hard and how often the cars bounce. If this is too bad, a team will have to adjust the ride height. This adjustment will almost always be detrimental to the best set-up they are looking for. So Mercedes doesn't seem to be helped by the 'technical directive' right away, because possibly it's not going to affect a team like Red Bull (which hardly suffers from porpoising) that much.

Verstappen not happy

Yet Verstappen finds the principle of rule changes extraordinary. "“I think it’s a bit disappointing that again there is a rule change mid-season, I would say. It’s not even about affecting us more or less than other teams, but it shouldn’t be that one team is complaining a lot and suddenly then they change the regs around it" Verstappen told RACER.

According to the reigning world champion, a lot of teams have done "great" by building such a car that is not so susceptible to porpoising. "If you can’t design the car properly for that then that’s your fault, it’s not the regs fault. For me that is a bit of a shame," said Verstappen, who has thus been one of the drivers from the group that has hinted that the FIA need not intervene.

No penalties in Canada

According to De Telegraaf-journalist Erik van Haren, contrary to earlier reports by Auto, Motor und Sport, penalties will only be handed out during the next Grand Prix if the FIA judges that there is too much and too fast bouncing. However, they are already going to carry out checks, so that they can collect data.