Grid cracks in two (again)
Security is just an excuse. The new rules issued by the FIA for 2023, Ben does not like them six ten o'clock teams on the grid. From next season, in fact, the teams will have to raise the cars by 25 mm in order to prevent potential dangers.
The Red Bull team principal Christian horner recently stated that the security charter is just one way to help the return to the top of a certain team, that is Mercedes. Together with the Anglo-Austrian team, Alpha Tauri, Ferrari, Haas, Alfa Romeo and Williams (powered by Mercedes) also spoke out against the new directives.
On the opposite side, in addition to the Silver Arrows, we find McLaren, Aston Martin and Alpine. Unlike the other six, these four teams do not feel that the International Federation is trying to mix grid performance again and support Ben Sulayem in his work.
Horner's words
“Security is a very easy card to play because theoretically it is not subject to voting of the Commission or the World Council” – declared Horner a The Race - “Something can be done, but I think it has to be reasonable. THE USEFULL that have been discussed are just too much extreme compared to the reality of what could probably be done” .
“I don't think it's a safety issue, it is up to the team to decide how to operate their car. The problem of porpoising can be eliminated very simply, but at the cost of sacrificing performance. It is not the FIA's job to ensure that a team is competitiveotherwise we would have had BOP on the engines in the last 10 years”.
The British manager then adds that making substantial changes to next year's regulations is now too late. Many teams, in fact, would be forced to review the design of the new car and would be affected by the budget cap.
Problems ahead for the FIA?
The main proposal made by the teams opposed to the changes is to raise the cars by only 10 millimetres instead of 25, arriving at a solution that all teams except Mercedes would agree on. President Ben Sulayem is trying to reach a compromise which allows the teams to keep the project carried out up to now.
Regardless of how it turns out, the International Federation proves once again that they cannot do a job that will please most, if not all, teams. After the sacking of Michael Masi at the end of last season, the FIA staff seem to fear aanother rejection.
Source: Motorsport.com, Formula Passion, The Race
