Nobody mentioned it. Indeed, the regulatory change was written in a technical correction that the FIA issued to the teams and that was enough. Because, in spite of the alleged transparency much heralded by F1, the “rule” was repealed in absolute silence.
What are we talking about? Of the abolition of the notorious TD39 that had sparked so many discussions last year. Nikolas Tombazis’ staff has decided to remove the AOM metric with which the technical stewards controlled the oscillations in the chassis for compliance with the anti-porpoising rule that had entered into force in the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps.
We don’t know the reasons, but it’s easy to foresee that for the International Federation the introduction of the new aerodynamic rules (15 mm lifting of the pavement of the bottom and of the elbow where the rear diffuser rises by 10 mm) could be enough to control the jumping in a straight line, so it was right to repeal a check that would have used the commissioners unnecessarily.
Here is the sidewalk of the Red Bull RB19: it has been raised by 15 mm compared to 2022
Photo by: Uncredited
Motorsport.com has learned that the algorithm has been scrapped since the start of the championship after it was already relaxed at the Singapore Grand Prix to prevent some cars from going beyond the normal limits due to the large swings that could be generated not so much by porposing as by the frequent roughness of the city road surface.
The provision may be in place, but it is not acceptable to know that the decision was kept in the strictest secrecy, almost as if it were top secret information. Can you imagine what would happen in football if the VAR calling rules for a controversial incident had not been publicly disclosed?
The FIA TDs are to all intents and purposes extensions of the rules: it is not enough to download the 2023 Technical Regulations file from the International Federation’s website to understand which rules are in force, because there are appendices that remain in the correspondence between the International Federation and the team.
As a side note, we also add that porpoising has not yet been defeated and the bouncing of the Ferrari SF-23, and not only that, are a plastic demonstration of it, even if the safety-related alarms that inspired the issue in Canada have disappeared of a measure, much contested, which then came into force in Belgium, after the exaggerated hopping that had been observed in Baku, especially on the Mercedes.
The Star, in fact, had “suggested” to the FIA a regulatory change during the season which the technical stewards had then ratified with the excuse of safety, the only clause thanks to which the International Federation is left free to intervene without the unanimous consent of the teams .
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