"I didn't expect such an early response or such an early action" - Carlos Sainz surprised by FIA's quick action after complaining of porpoising in F1 cars

Carlos Sainz has admitted that he did not expect the FIA to act as swiftly as they did to address the safety concerns related to porpoising raised by the drivers following the 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP.

Carlos Sainz was one of many F1 drivers to implore the FIA and F1 to tackle porpoising before it became a grave issue for the sport. The response to this was a new set of technical directives that the FIA hopes will put the safety of drivers at the top of the priority list for teams.

Speaking at a pre-race press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Canadian GP after the directives were announced, Sainz said:

“The FIA has definitely listened to the conversation that we had with them in the last few weeks and to the drivers’ complaints. To be honest, I didn’t expect such an early response or such an early action. Because I think we really need to look into the detail of what are the actions we need to take to make these cars [better] in the future. Take the right actions to make them a bit more benign for the drivers. But let’s see how these rules are. I think they’re going to start affecting pretty much every team in the grid because everyone is just running as stuff and as low as they can. But I’m interested to see how it affects everyone really, see how it goes.”

---

"It’s getting to a point where we are struggling to handle this" - Carlos Sainz voiced porpoising concerns after 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP

Earlier in the week, Carlos Sainz had asked the FIA to intervene to try and remedy the porpoising experienced by teams following his inopportune DNF at the 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP.

In an interview after his retirement from the race on Lap 9 owing to a hydraulics failure on his Ferrari F1-75, the Spaniard said:

“We kindly asked the FIA to look into it, not listen to the teams so much and to listen to us. We are saying it’s getting to a point where we are struggling to handle this. I don’t think we need a medical commission, we just need something smarter on the suspension or the way the cars are being run, where the FIA controls a bit better the possibility of the teams running that stiff, that hard, that kind of ride you see on the straights.”

Sainz went on to add, saying:

“I’m pretty sure if you ask two or three engineers down the paddock, they will know the answer and what can be done to limit this and regulate it. But we need the FIA to act as soon as possible – if not, it will start accumulating.”

The topic is still eliciting mixed reactions from all corners of the F1 world and it remains to be seen how the directives will make a difference for teams and drivers going forward.