FIA's new technical directive could affect F1 order and cause controversy – MPH

F1

The new FIA directive on porpoising won't come into force for two races – but a fascinating detail could change the order when it does

Max Verstappen driving for Red Bull at the 2022 Canadian GP

Verstappen had upper hand in Canada with visibly raked car

Grand Prix Photo

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The FIA’s latest update regarding the porpoising technical directive first outlined to the teams in Canada has delayed the introduction of limits upon the severity of any bouncing until the French Grand Prix.

After analysing the data from Montreal, the governing body says it has now defined a metric by which the issue will be monitored. This has been outlined to the teams at Silverstone this weekend in order for them to “conduct their own analysis over the next two grands prix to understand what, if any, changes they may need to implement in order to be compliant”.

But the really interesting part of this update is regarding the “updated parameters” relating to plank wear and stiffness “which are inherently related to the same issue and go hand-in-hand with the metric”.

The FIA says it will (henceforth) consider any configuring of cars around a plank which flexes more than 2mm will be in contravention of regulations 3.5.9e and 3.15.8a:

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“3.5.9e. The thickness of the plank assembly measured normal to the lower surface must be 10mm ± 0.2mm and must be uniform when new. A minimum thickness of 9mm will be accepted due to wear, and conformity to this provision will be checked at the peripheries of the designated holes.

“3.15.8a. Bodywork within RV-PLANK may deflect no more than 2mm at the two holes in the plank at XF=1080 and no more than 2mm at the rearmost hole, when the car, without driver, is supported at these positions. The car will be supported on 70mm diameter pads, centred on the holes, and only in contact with the underside of the plank assembly. The displacement will be measured at the supports, relative to the reference plane at the centre of each hole.”

This implies that some or all of the teams may currently be running the plank illegally soft in order to control the bouncing.

If your plank deflected by more than this, it would facilitate running the car with a little more rake, which would reduce the bottoming at high speeds without compromising downforce at lower speeds. Notably, several cars have been observed to be running with a small measure of rake in recent races.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this update may impact upon the competitive order. Because the initial technical directive, as issued in Montreal, essentially said only that a limit of bouncing severity will be set and you must run whatever ride height facilitates the car not breaching that limit. That would logically have increased Red Bull’s advantage over Ferrari and made things even more difficult for Mercedes. But if the Red Bull’s immunity to bouncing has been facilitated by running a level of rake it will no longer – from France onwards – be permitted, in order to meet the technical directive regarding plank wear and stiffness, then that potentially changes the picture somewhat.

We await further details, but this has the potential for controversy.