Lewis Hamilton is in Austria, but the focus is on the next Grand Prix in France, as the FIA has promised to apply metrics to control the car's kicks at the Paul Ricard circuit
Formula One races this weekend in Austria, but it is the following round in France that Lewis Hamilton has his eye on. This is because the FIA (International Automobile Federation) has promised to introduce at Paul Ricard the metric for controlling the vertical oscillations of cars at high speeds - in other words, the infamous porpoising .The Mercedes driver has promised to introduce metrics to control the vertical oscillations of cars at high speeds - in other words, the infamous porpoising - and contrary to popular belief, the seven-times champion hopes that the intervention could be favorable to Mercedes, since its main rivals, Ferrari and Red Bull, would now be in check because of their more flexible floors than allowed.
It is explained: since the Azerbaijan GP, when not only the Brackley-based, but other teams complained a lot about the cars' kicks, the FIA decided to intervene to control excessive bouncing in order to spare the drivers' health. At first, the technical directive released already for the Canadian GP released the use of an extra support for the floorboards, but this was very much contested as it was a change in the regulations.
The FIA then resorted to another directive, and this one brought even more controversy, as it involves the floorings. During the meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee in the week of the Canadian Grand Prix, suspicions arose that teams such as Ferrari and Red Bull were circumventing the regulations by flexing floors and planks more than the allowed 2 mm - some as much as 6 mm, increasing performance without the risk of suffering from knocks. Toto Wolff even said it was "shocking," to say the least.
Controversies aside, the expectation is that the French GP will put "order in the house," and that is where Hamilton is hoping for a jump from the Silver Arrows. If the FIA understands that the floors are flexing beyond the limit and intervenes, Ferrari and Red Bull could lose precious fractions of a second.
"I pray every day. I'm definitely hopeful that we can improve and I know everyone is working hard for that," Hamilton told Channel 4. "There's also this issue involving the floorboards, all these things. It will be interesting to see how it affects everyone," the driver added.
There is the other side of the coin as well: Mercedes has already said that porpoising is no longer a problem, but rather boucing, i.e. the W13's pitching is no longer the fault of the aerodynamic effect, but rather the stiffness of the car. If the FIA understands that the rivals' flexible floors are within the regulations, it may open up the chance for Mercedes to make the car's floor less rigid.
Regardless of what happens, Hamilton only wants one thing: "I'm dying to get in the car and it won't bounce anymore."
"There were times when the jumps were so strong that you had to slow down the acceleration on the straight. That was a different kind of challenge, not being able to accelerate during the race," Hamilton explained. "You think about the points for the team and how much each step in the championship means to everyone you work with. So you just accept the situation and push yourself," he said.
"It's the first time in my career as a driver that I've looked at a [car] setup and decided to live with a problem. And an unusual scenario. It took me three weeks [since Baku] to feel good again, and fortunately it was nothing disc-related, it was all muscle. There were several needles in my back!" he concluded.
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