Brain damage risks shows FIA must act on F1 porpoising, says Wolff

A push by the FIA to change the 2023 technical regulations and lift floor edges by 25mm to help eliminate car bouncing has not gone down well with a majority of teams, who fear it forces an unnecessary and expensive redesign of their new car plans.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been canvassing the opinion of all teams and drivers over the past two weekends to try to get a better understanding of the situation, and work out exactly what measures should be implemented in the end.

While some teams would much prefer a 10mm raising of the floor, there is no guarantee that Ben Sulayem will agree to a compromise solution – and there has been talk of a potential legal challenge if the FIA goes ahead with the original plan.

Mercedes is one of the squads that welcomes the FIA’s stance on the matter, though, and team boss Wolff suggested that a medical report he was shown in a meeting with Ben Sulayem at the Hungaroring on Saturday was all the evidence he needed to be sure there should be no watering down of the approach.

“There's all this talk of lobbying in either direction, but I think fundamentally, what are we talking about?” he said.

"The FIA has commissioned medical work on the porpoising. The summary of the doctors is that frequency of 1-2Hz, sustained over a few minutes, can lead to brain damage. We have 6-7Hz over several hours.

“So the answer is very easy: the FIA needs to do something about it.”

But despite the evidence of the FIA medical report, not all teams are convinced that there is a genuine safety concern for next year.

George Russell, Mercedes W13, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13, the rest of the field at the start

Ph