Toto Wolff reveals Lewis Hamilton could potentially be suffering from ‘brain damage’

Toto Wolff the Mercedes team Principal has revealed that Lewis Hamilton could potentially be suffering from brain damage because of the porpoising that Mercedes drivers had to go through early on in the 2022 F1 season.

The Brackley-based Mercedes team has been on the back foot in comparison to Red Bull and Ferrari this season and most of it has been down to the porpoising that became their Achilles heel till the F1 carnival reached Canada.

The performance of the team has improved since returning to smoother circuits and Lewis Hamilton has even managed to put up a streak of five consecutive podium finishes.

However, the damage that was done earlier in the season has put the team in a situation where they can’t really recover in the Championship, moreover, Toto Wolff has said that porpoising is not safe for the well-being of the drivers.

Wolff while discussing the issue has said, “I still believe that the FIA and all of us must do something about it.”

“Frequencies of 1 to 1 hertz that last for a few minutes can cause brain damage. We have 6 to 7 hertz for several hours.”

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Ferrari and Red Bull are not happy after Toto Wolff’s protest against porpoising

The outrage against proposing has been huge this season and the major protagonists of the whole movement have been Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

The FIA is set to implement new tweaks in the regulations for the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix and while some teams are relieved, others are not at all happy with FIA’s ruling.

Ferrari and Red Bull who have managed to keep porpoising under check this season are not pleased as they believe it would cost them their speed advantage over the other competitors.

Christian Horner has recently said that Red Bull did not find any issues with proposing in the last few races and Toto Wolff has hit back at the Brit by saying, “That [argument] doesn’t count because Silverstone, Paul Ricard, and Austria aren’t exactly tracks we bounce that much on anyway.”

“I don’t want to come to Spa or some of the later races where the track isn’t as smooth as a conventional racetrack and we didn’t do anything about it.“

“There is all this talk about lobbying in both directions, but what are we talking about here anyway?”

Given the out roar that porpoising has caused this season, it is believed that major changes could be made regarding floors for 2023 and Horner is not at all pleased with the prospect.

“So I think there just needs to be a common-sense solution, not rewriting the rulebook for next year at a point of the year, with budget caps where they are, which is just too late.”

“I think it’s actually an even bigger issue for some of the smaller teams that quite simply wouldn’t have the resources to be able to react.”

Horner has played the situation cleverly by talking about the problems that the smaller teams might face because of the rule changes and no matter what happens in the last 9 races, porpoising is going to be a major point of discussion after the end of the 2022 F1 season and it will be up to the FIA to come up with a solution with which they would be able to keep everyone happy.

Also Read: “It does not bring any good to the team” : Jean Alesi urges the Tifosi to stop being so harsh against Ferrari

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