“Team principals trying to play political games,” Mercedes’ Toto Wolff blasts Red Bull and Ferrari’s stance on porpoising

Mercedes have had a hard time this season trying to cope-up and struggling with all the porpoising at the same time. It got worse at Azerbaijan when the team pushed the cars off limits to perform the best which did give the team much better results with even a podium for George Russell, but it put Lewis Hamilton in much pain. He could be seen struggling out of the car after the race due to back pain from the car. Speculations had it; that he wouldn’t be attending the Canadian Grand Prix, which of course, didn’t happen as he performed during the qualifying session. Hamilton did state that he had been taking painkillers this entire week and regular physiotherapy sessions to attend the Canadian Grand Prix and to relieve the pain. 

Watch: The new F1 porpoising regulations and which teams it may affect…

Not all teams are struggling with the bouncing, but it got worse for the teams who are. This mainly is happening because of the return of “ground effect” in the cars, which makes the teams have a very stiff suspension and run their cars close to the ground for better aerodynamics. But being so close to the ground has made the cars suffer from the bouncing. After seeing so many teams suffer, FIA came up with a solution and issued a technical directive, right before the Canadian GP. 

But the directive has been described as too complex and “announced too late” by the teams. 

Also read: “It’s a bit of a shame,” George Russell worried about safety with all the porpoising concerns

Mercedes not satisfied with FIA’s solution and the teams

Mercedes’ Toto Wolff had a bust-up with Red Bull and Ferrari during a team principals’ meeting on Saturday in Canada after FIA released the new regulations. Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto stated that there should be a solution to the problem, but should be done through the right process. At the same time, Red Bull did not share any comment or thoughts; they are also the team who have suffered the least from the porpoising.

“This is a sport where you’re trying to keep a competitive advantage or gain it but this situation has gone too far,” BBC quoted Toto.

“And team principals trying to manipulate what is being said in order to keep their competitive advantage and trying to play political games when the FIA tries to come up with a quick solution to at least put the cars in a better position is disingenuous and that’s what I said.”

The given solution to the problem would work, but at the same time it would decrease the cars’ performance a lot, and the already affected Mercedes would further fail to perform. 

Also read: Canadian Grand Prix 2022 Qualifying Results: Max Verstappen gets pole as Fernando Alonso surprises critics

Also read: Charles Leclerc feels that taking a grid penalty in Canada was the right decision