FIA directive to tackle porpoising is 'a problematic way forward', says Mercedes

Mercedes Chief Technical Officer James Allison believes the FIA technical directive to resolve porpoising might not be the correct solution. The Englishman believes the sport needs to come up with a solution rather than find a metric to measure the bouncing on the cars.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 at the Canadian GP weekend, Allison said:

“I have to say that the general approach of saying ‘We’re going to come up with a metric and then, if you don’t fall on the right side of that metric, we will impose upon you certain changes’, that is a tricky way forward. At a very minimum, if that were the way forward, then the metric that is derived would need to be very transparently communicated, the data on which it is based very transparently available, and everyone’s metric be live and continuously viewable by everyone.”

The Mercedes CTO felt the directive, which refers to developing a metric to determine the safety level of porpoising or vertical oscillations in the car, would be and incorrect method to resolve the overall issue.

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Mercedes are ready to work with the FIA to resolve the porpoising issue

James Allison felt the FIA’s prompt move to intervene was a good gesture. He further mentioned that they are ready to work with the regulatory body and the sport to resolve the bouncing phenomenon.

Appreciating the FIA’s efforts to address the situation, Allison said:

“It’s welcome the FIA are recognising that it’s not a happy situation, where lap time and drivers’ health are in very sharp contrast with each other. As a sport, it is really helpful if that is recognised and we try to tiptoe our way out of the corner that the sport is wedged into at the moment.”

While Mercedes are ready to work with the FIA, other teams have been suspicious about the timing of the directive. Red Bull chief Christian Horner claims its the W13 concept to blame for the porpoising and not the regulations.Toto Wolff, on the other hand, has blamed teams for playing political games over the porpoising issue. Other teams like Alpine are also opposing Mercedes on the matter since they've already resolved the issue of porpoising and now feel the new directive only holds them at a disadvantage.

Whether driven by a political agenda or not, the fact still stands that porpoising has to be eliminated on the 2022 cars to ensure driver safety.