Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Paul Ricard, 2022

F1’s new porpoising measures for 2023 “over the top” – Verstappen

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In the round-up: Max Verstappen believes new regulations being brought into Formula 1 in 2023 to reduce porpoising and bouncing are not fully necessary.

In brief

New porpoising measures for 2023 “a bit over the top” says Verstappen

Verstappen has questioned the need for the FIA to impose restrictions on porpoising and bouncing. A new technical directive issued by the sport’s governing body comes into effect this weekend. Further technical regulation changes for 2023 to combat the problem further have also been announced.

“At the moment I don’t think it’s very clear how much it’s going to hurt different kind of teams,” said Verstappen when asked about the impact of the changes on car performance.

“But I think it’s gone a bit over the top with rule changes because I think already the last races you could see that most of the teams had it more or less under control. And also the teams who actually asked for it had it much more under control.”

Ricciardo would consider year out of F1 “if it made sense”

Daniel Ricciardo says he would consider missing the 2023 F1 season if it “made sense” as an option to him.

The 33-year-old will lose his McLaren drive at the end of this season after the team opted to terminate his contract due to his disappointing performance. Asked if he would consider a sabbatical from F1, Ricciardo said “if it made sense, yes.”

“It’s the only racing I’m interested in at this stage of my career,” he said. “F1, it’s what I love and it’s where I see myself if I’m doing any racing. But as I said, if, let’s say, the stars don’t align, and it doesn’t make perfect sense next year, and if it means taking that time off to kind of reset or re-evaluate, then if that’s the right thing to do, then I’m willing to.”

Tsunoda did not want to give up first Spa practice to Lawson

Yuki Tsunoda admitted that he was reluctant to give up his car to Formula 2 driver Liam Lawson for this afternoon’s first practice at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Lawson will make his first appearance in a grand prix session today when he steps into the other AlphaTauri belonging to Tsunoda’s team mate Pierre Gasly for the first hour-long practice session.

“Because of this FIA rule that rookies have to drive, it’s a good opportunity for Liam to drive a Formula 1 [car],” said Tsunoda. “I figured for me, because why Spa, why the track? I said to the team that I don’t want to swap in Spa because we’re still learning and me and Pierre both agreed that Liam can drive this track.”

New Predictions Championship prize added

From this weekend the top three players in each round of the Predictions Championship will win a prize:

  • First place: F1 22 for the platform of your choice
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  • Third place: Motorsport print from Hidden Prints

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Comment of the day

As Andretti’s efforts to join Formula 1 continue, @jeanrien worries about how much of a closed club the sport seems to be in the modern era…

With the way things are going, Formula 1 could turn into the pinnacle of exclusivity. Many of the sport leagues are at the top because everyone wants to join them, be a part of it, and there are possibilities to enter for those that are willing to put the effort and show that they have the performance.

It feels like F1 is drifting apart from the rest and isolating itself to a point where it might become questionable if it is the pinnacle of the sport. Luckily budget and technology is still supporting the narrative, but the lack of testing, new entrants, the weight of experience is preventing to have more teams and ultimately more drivers showing what they are capable of (or not) in a F1 car.

I am getting doubtful that we will have the best drivers on the grid in five years with the current structure where experience is valued so much rather than potential because the learning curve is tough and it takes time to unlock this potential, and there is no more training group. Even more true that the current regulation are unlike anything else and F1 is a very different platform to anything else. Even smaller teams need experienced drivers either for development or to get as much points as they can with little fresh blood coming in.
Jeanrien

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Victor and Apex!

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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12 comments on “F1’s new porpoising measures for 2023 “over the top” – Verstappen”

  1. Did Liberty not say coming in that they wanted to turn F1 into a franchise system where you had 10 teams locked in with new entrants having to buy into those teams rather than come in as an actual new team.

    It’s just further proof of the Americanisation of F1 under American owners who know nothing of the sport, Don’t care about it, It’s history or it’s fanbase. They care just about the casual American audience and money.

    1. It’s just further proof of the Americanisation of F1

      It isn’t. ‘Franchised’ sports exist outside of the US too.

      under American owners who know nothing of the sport, Don’t care about it, It’s history or it’s fanbase.

      That’s not quite true. They care enough to know that it was worth the enormous investment, and how much they could make from it.
      Given that viewership and income is growing, and the teams have never been happier, I’d say they are doing reasonably well in that regard.

      They care just about the casual American audience and money.

      They don’t only care about American viewers – but they certainly do care about money.

      Of course, we can’t forget that Bernie and CVC also cared primarily about money. Nor can we ignore that anyone else who may have bought F1’s commercial rights instead would also have cared primarily about money.
      It’s a business, after all. Find me a business of that scale that doesn’t focus primarily on money.

  2. A bit over the top, I agree, since porpoising has been under control for a little while.

    A return following a sabbatical year could work, but two such years would make returning harder if an ideal opportunity didn’t arise for 2024.

    Experience may be valued, but technical rules will remain predominantly stable for a while, except for 2026, as five years from now goes beyond. Thus, not necessarily such an extreme image as envisioned in the last paragraph.

    1. Did you see the Williams and Ferrari in FP1 today?

  3. “It’s the only racing I’m interested in at this stage of my career,” he said. “F1, it’s what I love”

    No Money Badger, it’s money that you love and since no other series gives you that, you want to remain in F1 at all costs. You don’t even care about racing or results, it’s all about salary and visibility F1 seat gets you, so you can sign lucrative personal sponsorship deals.

    1. I am wondering, and I doubt if I am alone, why you have such an overly negative view of Daniel. You posted a similar comment a few days ago.

      Most people seem to think he’s a decent, hard working, entertaining, popular person who happens to be a pretty good F1 driver. Certainly up until the last 2 seasons the evidence bears this out.

      You really think his actions are all about money? If McLaren wanted to terminate his contract early what would you expect him to do? Just walk away with nothing? Or do you think he’s not trying to deliver?

      You could argue that his decision a couple of years ago to leave Alpine was a little premature, but you really think this was all about more money?

      It seems a unique and narrow minded view.

      1. He was on a Red Bull team on an upwards trend but decided to sign with Renault, maybe because he got scared of Verstappen (which is a terrible reason in and of itself), but mostly because Renault was ready to pay him big bucks. That was definitely a move motivated by money. He clearly did not believe in the Renault project because he didn’t even stay until the new regulations arrived in 2022. Then he moved to McLaren for dubious reasons : McLaren does not have it’s own PU (like Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull or Renault does), so I don’t really see why McLaren looked like a good prospect heading into a new set of regulations (especially with how ‘distracted’ McLaren looks by their different projects outside F1: Indycar, Formula E, making smartphones with Oneplus). Surely it would make more sense to stay with a manufacturer that seems (despite their continued lack of success) fully focused on F1?
        All Ricciardo’s moves since leaving Red Bull have been focused on other things than performance, so it’s not unreasonable to assume he’s more motivated by money than by becoming F1 world champion.

        1. McLaren looks by their different projects outside F1: Indycar, Formula E, making smartphones with Oneplus).

          That comment is misguided. That’s akin to saying Ferrari should stop making road cars and concentrate on F1. McLaren’s side projects are all done by a separate entity. The only project I can think of that they used any of the F1 side to do was the Specialized McLaren Venge, and that was very little. Some tweaks to the laying up and some proprietary carbon voodoo.

          1. Maybe Aston Martin should stop making road cars……and bicycles, and branded single malt as well. They’re even farther down the grid.

    2. Don’t restrict your commentary to Ricciardo, @armchairexpert.
      Hamilton and Verstappen both make more money than Ricciardo does, and they won’t even consider driving for a team as far back as McLaren is.

  4. I think in Calderon’s case there’s been much more than equal opportunities considering the driving round at the back in F3, driving round at the back in F2, driving round at the back in Indy, and driving round at the back in SuperFormula. Yet still having someone willing to give her another punt at the premier feeder category.

  5. Max is the biggest hypocrite, hence i don’t like him at all. When the FIA ban all kinds of Mercedes innovations to please Red Bull he had nothing to say of course, just like the FIA ban Mercedes’s qualifying mode mid 2020 season. Hypocrite #errormasichamp

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