Shake Party in Azerbaijan, Silence in Canada. The ongoing topic of bouncing affects Formula 1 and the paddock at irregular intervals, but always causes heated debates. RTL expert Christian Danner felt that Lewis Hamilton’s complaints were “a lot of show”.
The outcry after the race in Baku was great. Several pilots complained loudly about the bouncing, the hopping of the racers, which caused physical pain in the cockpit. The picture of Lewis Hamilton, who could hardly get out of his car after the race, was symbolic of the physical suffering. The record world champion and F1 colleagues like Sebastian Vettel raised the alarm and called on the world association FIA to act. Tenor: It’s about the health and safety of drivers.
“The topic has been boiled up, very dramatically by a Hamilton who no longer comes out of the car. There was a lot of show,” says RTL expert Christian Danner about the scenes recently.
Clash between Mercedes and Red Bull
In his view, some teams have tried to “make a difference by having the drivers all whine”.
A week later in Canada, the nagging died down. Danner has the following explanation for this: “The teams adjusted the cars a bit better and the drivers said: ‘It’s the way it is now.'”
The RTL expert believes that “there was a will behind it, to turn back the regulations a bit. To get things from a technical point of view that you would like for your own performance. That you can get faster yourself.”
The union responded. On the Thursday before the Canada race, the FIA announced that it had issued a technical directive to contain bouncing. Reactions to this were mixed.
While Sebastian Vettel praised the measures, world champion Max Verstappen found them excessive. At a team manager meeting, there was a clash between Toto Wolff (Mercedes) and Christian Horner (Red Bull).
Wolff accused the rivals of putting performance above safety and complained about “political games”, while the other side felt exaggerated whining from Mercedes and Co.