F1 to consider "a trimming of lap time" if new cars are “too fast”, claims motorsport director Ross Brawn

F1's managing director of motorsports, Ross Brawn, has revealed that his team will consider ways to “trim lap time” if the new cars prove to be quicker than expected.

Brawn hopes that the developmental constraints, such as cost cap and limited wind tunnel time, placed on the teams this season will keep them from exceeding a safety margin. Speaking to GPFans following the conclusion of the Barcelona test, he said:

“Over time, there will be a trimming of lap time to keep it within a certain region. You’ve got to be careful the cars aren’t too fast because the safety standards at the circuits would need to be modified, and we don’t want the circuits having to change all the time. So we will keep it within a margin, a boundary, and hopefully that’s where we’ll be and we’ll see what the development rate is and decide if that will need adjusting in the future.”

The 2022 regulations were originally predicted to make the new cars at least 3-4 seconds slower on average, compared to cars from the previous generation. As teams rolled onto their first pre-season test at Barcelona last month, it became clear, however, that the new cars were already on par with the last generation.

The fastest time from the test — a 1.19.138 — was set by Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes W13 on the softest available tire compound on the final day. The time was just two-and-a-half seconds off his qualifying lap from last season, which netted him pole position.

Given that lap times in testing are usually under representative, it could be reasonably assumed that Hamilton would be able to lap by at least a second quicker if under representative conditions. This means the new cars are already exceeding the original performance margin.

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Porpoising could have “tragic” consequences if not fixed quickly, claims former F1 aerodynamicist

Former F1 aerodynamicist Jean-Claude Migeot believes teams will have to face “tragic” consequences if they fail to quickly address porpoising issues currently plaguing the new ground-effect cars.

Speaking to Autosport, Migeot, who worked as a chief aerodynamicist for Tyrell, said:

“It’s going to be tragic on a bumpy track, and it’s going to be tragic in racing, because when you’re hard braking for overtaking you’re going to excite this phenomenon a lot. So, we’re maybe going to see very bad things. I think the FIA will react before that. If nobody has time to find the best solution, the FIA will have to react. I hope to be wrong, of course, because it will be a nasty surprise.”

Since F1 teams have been banned from using hydraulic suspensions this season, they are expected to have few ways in which to tackle porpoising. Several drivers, including Mercedes’ George Russell have already expressed safety concerns over the issue.

Russell even suggested that F1 consider lifting the ban on active suspensions to aid teams in solving the problem quickly.

Meanwhile, others such as Valtteri Bottas expect the issue to be resolved very quickly and don’t believe it will have an impact on safety.