‘The cars will converge’ – Horner warns against FIA porpoising directive

The
technical
directive
was
controversially
added
at
the
Canadian
GP
to
tackle
the
“safety
issue”
of
aggressive
bouncing
drivers
experienced
at
recent
street
circuits
in
Baku
and
Miami,
as
a
result
of
aerodynamic
changes
to
this
season’s
cars.

Formula
One’s
governing
body
analysed
data
captured
in
Montreal
in
order
to
devise
a
metric
that
measures
vertical
acceleration
loads
to
ultimately
limit
oscillations,
something
Horner
has
been
outspoken
against.

While
safety
is
the
FIA’s
primary
concern
in
limiting
the
porpoising
experienced
so
far
this
season,
the
Red
Bull
principal
believes
it
is
wrong
for
the
FIA
to
overtly
dictate
how
the
cars
are
set
up.

“It
is
too
late
in
the
day
to
be
introducing
changes
for
next
year,”
Horner
said.
“We
haven’t
governed
for
that
and
the
cost
involved,
sometimes
the
unintended
consequences
for
changing
philosophies,
it
will
affect
what
you
carry
over
and
it
will
affect
the
design
and
development.

“The
most
important
thing
and
biggest
way
to
achieve
stable
costs
is
stability.
The
cars
will
converge.
You
can
see
that
already,
the
cars
are
certainly
looking
more
familiar
and
that
will
continue
over
the
next
six-to-nine
months.

“The
most
important
thing
is
don’t
d***
with
it,
leave
it
alone
and
the
teams
will
sort
it
out.”

Time
to
dry
off
????
See
you
tomorrow
Silverstone
????

#BritishGP
????????

pic.twitter.com/KruOSJg3rE

—
Oracle
Red
Bull
Racing
(@redbullracing)

July
2,
2022

Mercedes
have
experienced
significant
‘porpoising’ issues
which
have
in
turn
affected
their
performance,
with
Horner
previously
suggesting
they
are
trying
to
make
as
much
of
an
issue
out
of
it
as
possible.

It
is
understood,
however,
all
10
teams
performed
within
the
metric’s
parameters
in
Canada.

Meanwhile,
Red
Bull
lead
both
the
driver’s
and
constructor’s
standings
coming
in
Sunday’s
race
at
Silverstone.

“I
understand
on
the
grounds
of
safety
that
this
is
being
introduced
because
the
porpoising
on
a
limited
amount
of
cars
is
obviously
at
an
extreme
level,”
Horner
added.

“They
[the
FIA]
are
keen
to
have
a
mechanism
to
control
that
but
hopefully
it
is
only
something
that
will
be
there
for
this
year
as
it
is
something
that
hopefully
all
the
teams
will
be
on
top
of
and
cars
will
converge
next
year.

“It
is
certainly
not
a
precedent
that
we
want
to
set
otherwise
setups
will
be
dictated
by
FIA
directives.”