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via Reuters

FIA, the global body for motor sport, has recently approved the changes to the floor of the F1 car next season. The much-anticipated move comes after repeated complaints from the drivers and teams about the porpoising and its effect on physical health. Christian Horner had a cheeky take on this.

After rounds of discussions, FIA had decided to raise the F1 floors by 25 mm. However, some further discussions that involved the governing body president FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and teams and drivers have finally set the bar to 15mm.

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had a witty response to this decision. Pointing to the 10 mm change by FIA, the Red Bull boss stated to F1 journalist Adam Cooper, “My wife often tells me size doesn’t matter so I’m not going to be too fussed about 10mm…”

So 25mm versus 15mm, we’ve got to live with it and it is what it is. It’s inconvenient to be introducing at this time of time of year, it’s incredibly late, but it’s the same for everybody,” further stated Horner in a report published by Autosport.

How porpoising is dangerous and why the change was made?

The porpoising effect is deemed to be very dangerous when it comes to physical health. The drivers had aches on their bodies resulting from the high-speed shakes. Moreover, a further study showed that porpoising might lead to brain damage if exposed for a longer period.

Talking about this, the FIA head of single-seater stated, “Now, we have to act responsibly in this sport. We see examples of other sports who have ignored long-term effects of certain conditions they subject the sportsman under, so we felt we had to take the long-term view on this.”

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However, FIA has also come under fire for taking the decision as some teams have gotten the better of porpoising. While Mercedes suffered the bitter part of it, Red Bull managed to tackle the issue.

The Austrian team’s star driver Max Verstappen shared his bittersweet take on this. Verstappen asserted, “I think a little bit it’s gone a bit over the top with these changes. Because I think already the last few races, you can see most of the teams had it more or less under control.”

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

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Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 and NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. He has completed his Master's in Mass Communication and Journalism from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Sabyasachi is an ardent Red Bull and Max Verstappen fan and has been following the sport for over a decade now.
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