Wolff shocked: 'A bit of a surprise to say the least'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Several Formula 1 teams have been experimenting with a flexible floor to prevent porpoising, reports The Race. Toto Wolff tells the medium that he is shocked, although he is glad that the FIA intervened immediately.
According to the regulations of the motorsport class, the racing teams are not allowed to let the floor deflect more than two millimetres. However, the flexible floor increased that number to as much as six millimetres, giving some teams more of an advantage than others.
Flexible floor a surprise for Wolff
It allows the formations to adjust their car in such a way that the driver suffers less from porpoising. For Wolff it was a big surprise when he heard about the situation. However, he did not have to intervene as the FIA decided to give the teams clarity immediately.
"Nobody had an idea until the FIA brought it up in the last Technical Advisory Committee," Wolff says. "Which was to a great surprise of all the teams because what’s in the regulations, and what was the intent of the regulations, it’s pretty clear. There is no argument why that could deflect more than what’s in the regs."
The Mercedes team boss therefore looks at the situation with a strange feeling. "A bit of a surprise to say the least, more of a shocker," said Wolff, who will start with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in fifth and eighth respectively.