Regarding the plan to change the floor rules for 2023, which is being promoted by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Red Bull team representative Christian Horner is trying to maximize his own profits. He criticized it as a conspiracy.
The FIA, which intervened in the porpoising and bouncing issues through the issuance of technical directives for safety reasons, has recently put together a proposed change to the technical regulations for floors for the 2023 season. The outline is as follows.
- 25mm increase in floor edge height
- Raise the height of the diffuser throat
- Strict lateral floor deflection inspection
- Vertical vibration measurement with new sensor
The distance from the ground at both ends of the floor will increase, and the sealing of the underbody will be impaired due to inspection and measurement equipment updates. In addition, by raising the height of the narrowest part (throat) of the Venturi tunnel, stability once morest changes in vehicle height is expected.
However, Red Bull, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Haas, and Williams have questioned the legitimacy of such rule changes related to the basic design of the car because the vertical movement problem is already converging. There is an aspect that is not good.
Horner didn’t mention a specific team name, but he seems to think that the rule revision was the result of one particular team’s efforts to maximize their profits.
“The problem isn’t the technical directive, but what the FIA sees as a solution for next year. The technical directive is a trivial and irrelevant story for us,” Horner said.
“There are so many unpleasant lobbying attempts to drastically change the regulations for next year, which allows one team to run the car low and benefit from the concept.”
Horner added that it is “too late” in time to discuss major rule changes next year at the moment when half of the season has been exhausted.
Needless to say, there is no doubt that what Horner calls “a team” is Mercedes. The most struggling of the current floor rules is the Silver Arrows, which have a unique “zero pod” concept that sets them apart from the other nine teams.
“It’s just a matter of raising the car’s height, it’s a simple story. We haven’t had any problems throughout the season. Only one team has serious problems,” Horner said. continue.
“The sport has some of the most talented engineers in the world. I can almost assure you that no car will have these problems next year (even if you don’t change the rules).”
The road surface of Silverstone and Red Bull Ring was smooth, so the porpoising problem was not noticed.
“The last few races haven’t seemed to be a problem, and here (Paul Ricard Circuit) looks okay. We want to avoid overreacting that might have a fundamental impact on next year’s car. There “