Mercedes\’ 2022 campaign was hindered by the porpoising effect. But this allowed Red Bull and Ferrari to take a significant lead in the championship. The Silver Arrows struggled the most with the violent bouncing and could not find the pace to compete with the front-runner for race wins. However, the German outfit has seen significant amounts of progress during the last five races, with Lewis Hamilton securing a podium in each race. In addition, the last two races have been more fruitful for Mercedes as they clinched double podiums in France in Hungary.
While facing porpoising, the Silver Arrows have been pushing for a regulation change which will finally come into effect at the Belgian GP after months of delay. The FIA introduced a new technical directive that will monitor the number of vertical oscillations. Some rumors about some teams finding a loophole around the Flexi floor rule also came out. After that, the FIA brought in another rule about the stiffness of the floor plank and skid area.
Apparently, the regulation change is expected to affect Red Bull and Ferrari. The two leading outfits have been speculated to benefit from the loophole during the first half of the season. Thus, with the progress Mercedes have made in recent time, George Russell feels that the new technical directive will bring Red Bull and Ferrari towards his team.
Will The Regulation Change Affect Ferrari & Red Bull?
The Mercedes driver further stated that Spa could turn out to be interesting. He suggested that the little changes in the regulations would bring other teams towards the Silver Arrows. The Briton had no doubts that Ferrari and Red Bull pushed the regulations. He advocated the fact that Mercedes respected them as they were intended. However, George pointed out that there was no guarantee the change would bring the front-running teams closer to the Silver Arrows.
Russell stated that the W13 would have definitely been affected by the regulation change if Mercedes were using the loophole. But, he was not sure about the rival cars as they are different. The 24-year-old believes that the change would not help Red Bull and Ferrari for sure.
The two teams have criticized any kind of regulation changes this season and for the next. Ferrari even threatened the FIA by protesting against the regulation changes for 2023. However, the governing body has remained firm on the changes keeping safety concerns in mind. Thus, the long-delayed technical regulation will finally come into effect during the Belgian GP. Moreover, it would be interesting to see if Ferrari and Red bull would be affected during the upcoming racing weekend.