F1 News: Max Verstappen Slates Mercedes – “If You Can’t Design The Car Properly Then That’s Your Fault”
Max Verstappen has lashed out at the FIA and Mercedes after the organisation has made moves to reduce the negative effects of porpoising on drivers. Saying that it’s the team’s fault if they can’t fix the issue, he admits it’s very disappointing.
Grand Tour Nation reported earlier that the FIA is setting in place directives that will allow them to analyse and limit the porpoising experiences by teams on track. For one, they will be measuring the vertical movement of cars and setting limits that they’re yet to define.
The Belgian Red Bull driver has already stated that he’s not a fan of these new directives:
“I think it’s a bit disappointing that again there is a rule change mid-season, I would say,” Verstappen told RACER.
“It’s not even about affecting us more or less than other teams, but it shouldn’t be that one team is complaining a lot and suddenly then they change the regs around it,” he continued.
He goes on to say that he doesn’t believe it’s fair on teams who have been able to fix their cars to minimise porpoising:
“I think there are a lot of teams that actually did an amazing job to not have these kind of issues, so it is possible to drive around it,” he said.
He continued:
“If you raise your car then you won’t have these issues, but you lose performance,” Verstappen said. “But if you can’t design the car properly for that then that’s your fault, it’s not the regs’ fault.
“For me that is a bit of a shame.
“Of course every track is different, too, but I think it’s a bit of a shame to change it mid-season and clearly teams have shown you can drive normally, or at least with a lot less issues than some other teams,” he added.
Although he doesn’t explicitly define which team he’s talking about, it’s no secret that he’s describing Mercedes after team chief Toto Wolff raised major concerns over porpoising after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The weekend of the Canadian Grand Prix kicks off today, and the driver is looking forward to continue his winning streak:
“Montreal is a really beautiful city and arriving off the back of a 1-2 in Baku, it would be great to leave Canada with the same result.”
