Pierre Gasly believes that the physical impact of porpoising is ‘not healthy’ for F1 drivers, and says that motorsport governing body the FIA must regulate against the phenomenon in future or risk athletes ‘ending up with a cane at 30-years-old.’
F1 has returned to ground effect car designs this year for the first time since the 1980s, in an effort to allow cars to follow one another more closely and for drivers to race each other harder.
But the aerodynamic shift has brought with it a peculiar quirk known as ‘porpoising’, which sees cars bouncing intensely up and down when travelling at high speeds due to the balance of air beneath the floor shifting forwards and backwards. This causes drivers to shake violently behind the wheel, with their heads visibly rattling and intense loads sent through their spines.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton struggled to make it out of his car after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the weekend, calling the race the most physically demanding of his life, while other drivers including Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz have voiced concerns about the long-term health effects.
Now, Gasly says drivers are being forced to weigh up the performance of the car versus their own health.
‘It’s not healthy, that’s for sure,’ Gasly said, as reported by Motorsport.com. ‘I’ve had a physio session before and after every session, just because my [spinal] discs are suffering from it. You have literally no suspension. It just hits going through your spine.
‘The team are asking me “okay, we can compromise the set-up?” and I’m compromising my health for the performance. And I’ll always do it because I’m a driver and I always go for the fastest car I can.’
Gasly doesn’t believe that a solution to the issue is coming any time soon, but says that the FIA must change technical regulations in time for next season so that drivers are protected.
‘But I don’t think the FIA should put us in a corner where you have to deal between health and performance,’ Gasly added. ‘That’s the tricky part of it and clearly not sustainable. So that’s what we discussed at the drivers’ briefing and kind of alerted them on this problem, and try to ask them to find solutions to save us from ending up with a cane at 30-years-old.’
‘Sometimes the car is moving on its own, just because the steering is shaking,” Gasly said. ‘At such speed it’s not easy. I don’t think they can fix something until the end of the year. But hopefully for next year.’
The ninth round of the 2022 F1 season will take place this weekend in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix.
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