Charles Leclerc questions new FIA measures as Ferrari progress could be 'put in the bin' over porpoising
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Published 18/06/2022 at 13:26 GMT+1
Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal this weekend, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, has questioned the new regulations set to be implemented by the FIA. These new measures are to help combat the porpoising issues that rival teams are experiencing. Plus, trying to limit the physical injury being caused by the 'bouncing' to drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell of Mercedes.
‘It hurts’ - Leclerc frustrated with DNF as Red Bull takes win at Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has questioned the FIA’s decision to implement new regulations in the middle of a season, in order to combat the porpoising issues experienced by rival teams.
It has been a troublesome weekend so far for the Monegasque in Montreal ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. In FP1 he could only manage fifth, whilst in FP2 he found pace as he finished second behind championship rival Max Verstappen.
Leclerc reacted to the decision by the FIA by stating his sympathy for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell of Mercedes, who have particularly struggled with the porpoising issues.
However, Leclerc did maintain that it may hand Ferrari a disadvantage by limiting the progress his team had made, to avoid experiencing the heavy porpoising to the extent of other drivers.
He said: “On the one hand, I obviously understand George's point, because when you see him and Lewis get out of their car after Baku, it's very bad.
“You can feel probably the pain that Lewis is going through at the moment. And this is not acceptable.
“But, on the other hand, also, you cannot underestimate the amount of work that's been done in the last few months by teams to actually get on top of those issues. This has been our main priority since the first time we tried these cars.
“We've been working to get on top of those issues. I think the improvement has been massive, and now all of the work that we've done, [do we] just put it in the bin because obviously there's maybe one team that is struggling more than others.
“This is my point of view. I obviously understand that on Mercedes it's very bad, but I also think that there are maybe fixes for this.”
Mercedes driver George Russell also responded to the announcement by the FIA, as he believes that it is the correct decision at this time.
“At the end of the day, the FIA are the rule makers, and they could bring in any regulation change they want. Nobody sat here knows if that's going to improve their performance or have a negative effect on their performance. So, we really have to see.
“There's so many different aspects and elements of these cars, that by raising the car, it doesn't necessarily reduce it or remove. You're going in between porpoising and bottoming: it's two sort-of different issues at play here.
“I hope it's easier to drive for everybody and it doesn't have a knock-on effect for performance for anyone.”
Following the two practice sessions on Friday evening, Ferrari announced overnight that Leclerc will be taking a 10-place grid penalty.
Leclerc received the penalty for excessive engine usage after his team decided to fit a third electronics control unit, ahead of FP3 and qualifying on Saturday.
This adds further pressure on Leclerc this weekend now as he will have to attempt qualifying as high as possible to give him the best chance of making up ground to Verstappen on race day.
But this change in setup for Ferrari may have been inevitable as their lack of engine reliability was once again on show in Azerbaijan last week, which led to a double retirement.
Red Bull seem to have control of the championship now with Verstappen finding confidence in his car and Ferrari’s issues piling up.
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