Gasly is asking the FIA to intervene on “porpoising” for the health of the drivers
Pierre Gasly was one of the main victims of overworking this weekend. The driver is asking the FIA to intervene in order to preserve the health of the drivers and prevent them from "ending up with a cane at the age of 30".
The bouncing effect has reached a new level in Baku. While many teams have been experiencing these straight-line jumps since the beginning of the season, the drivers had never suffered as much as on the Azerbaijani track. Many complained about the pain caused by the violent shaking resulting from the longest straight-line on the calendar (over 2km).
Pierre Gasly, a brilliant fifth in the race, also suffered a lot physically throughout the weekend in Azerbaijan. It’s not healthy, that’s for sure. I had a physiotherapy session before and after each session, just because my spinal discs suffer from it. You literally have no suspension. It just hits straight through your spine.
A position that can only be shared by Lewis Hamilton, who emerged from his car at the finish line in a state of prostration and declared to have never suffered so much in a race. Toto Wolff even hinted that the British driver could miss the next Grand Prix in Canada this Sunday, before the driver confirmed his presence on social media.
Faced with this avalanche of complaints, Pierre Gasly is asking the FIA to intervene in order to not further endanger the drivers’ health.
The team asks me, “OK, can we make compromises on the settings?” and I compromise on my health for performance. And I will always do it because I am a driver and I am always looking for the fastest possible car. But I don’t think the FIA should put us in a situation where you have to compromise between health and performance. » explains the French.
« It’s the delicate part of the matter, and it’s clearly not sustainable. That’s what we discussed during the pilots’ briefing, and we somehow alerted them to this problem, and we tried to ask them to find solutions to avoid us ending up with a walking stick at the age of 30. » Gasly continues.
There is no doubt that the FIA will have to closely consider the issue, even if some, such as Red Bull and Christian Horner, who are less affected by the controversy, believe that it is not fair.
