F1 LIVE: Canadian Grand Prix practice build-up as George Russell warned over Lewis Hamilton

Ralf Schumacher says the measures introduced by the FIA to combat porpoising may have been rushed and that he thinks the bouncing of F1 cars on other circuits will be a lot less than in Baku where the problem was at its worst.

On top of that is the case that all drivers don’t unanimously agree that safety is at stake.

“Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly have complained, but I don’t remember Max Verstappen or anyone else saying anything.” said Schumacher

But, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas have also voiced their concerns about the severity of porpoising.

The FIA plans to measure the bounce of the cars with certain equipment. Then a yet-to-be-determined mathematical formula will be applied to it but Schumacher is not a fan.

“I don’t know how the FIA is going to do it. After all, this formula cannot be the same for every car and every aerodynamic approach.” he said.

Max Verstappen spared no sympathy for Charles Leclerc after the Dutchman took advantage of a race-ending engine failure for his Ferrari Formula One rival to cruise to an unchallenged win in Azerbaijan on Sunday.

“I would say sh*t happens, that’s racing, you know?” Verstappen, who experienced the heartbreak of crashing out of the lead in Baku last year, told reporters.

“It happened to me, it happened to many people in the past and unfortunately it’s happening to Charles. If I would be in the same situation, I would also be disappointed, I think that’s very normal, but it’s about how you come out of it.”

Toto Wolff has said Mercedes are working ‘flat out to close the gap’ to Formula 1 rivals Red Bull and Ferrari ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Mercedes have managed four third-placed finishes this season – one for Lewis Hamilton and three for George Russell – while their rivals have won every race between them.

Ferrari have earned two victories through Charles Leclerc, while defending champion Max Verstappen has claimed five wins for Red Bull and his teammate Sergio Perez has won once.

All three teams have had their share of issues with their cars, but Mercedes have been battling the greatest problems, particularly ‘porpoising’ – when a vehicle bounces up and down.

Lewis Hamilton’s first win in Formula 1 came at the Canadian Grand Prix back in 2007 and he’s been reminiscing about his journey over the last 15 years.

Schumacher admits he was left bruised by Baku’s F1 main straight

Mick Schumacher says he was left bruised by the seatbelts of his Haas Formula 1 car after last weekend’s Azerbaijan GP. The American team generally not suffered from excessive porpoising or bouncing this season, but in Baku all teams were affected at some point.

Schumacher was unable to relax on the main straight as he had to deal with the bumps and aftewards found himself left with some unexpected aches and pains to the neck and back. Autosport asked Schumacher is porpoising had had an impact on him physically after the race and he replied:

“I think everybody did to be honest, I think it was a very tough race, I started feeling my back I think 10-15 laps in. And honestly, by the end of it, it was quite tough, the back pain in general.

“The problem with it, is that with the porpoising and bouncing that we experienced with those heavy bumps that we had on the straight is that you lack the possibility to recover.

“Usually last year, you would have the straights to relax, whereas now you’re constantly trying to tense, because you get so thrown around in the seat.

“Every lap, I got hit with the belts, and you started having the marks here and here, and also in the crotch belts. So it’s a very different type of muscles that you use, which I guess is something one has to get used to.

“But also I think it’s something we shouldn’t have to get used to, because I think they will have an effect in some years’ time. I’ve heard a story about a driver driving in the 70s or 80s when they had the same issues with porpoising where the driver actually had to retire from F1 because he was so much in back pain from it.

“So it’s definitely something that they will have to have a look at. And I’m sure F1 and FIA are doing their best to try and solve it.”

The Mercedes driver finished fourth but looked in discomfort upon exiting his car, raising concerns that he could be forced to miss the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend in what is a back-to-back.

But in an update on Monday, Hamilton said he had woken up feeling “positive” after receiving treatment from his physiotherapist Angela Cullen and said he would not be missing the Montreal race.

The FIA is set to focus on gathering data at the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend as it looks to implement changes to tackle the ongoing porpoising issues hitting this year’s Formula 1 cars. They will look to apply a threshold for how much the cars can bounce to prevent drivers from encountering the kind of discomfort many faced in Baku, where the issue hit its worst level yet.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly backed the move saying the FIA were “putting the interest of any team or any car aside” and that the porpoising was “clearly too much”.

“You can’t even realise what it’s like, just watching from the onboards or watching from the outside,” Gasly said. “I’m just happy they understood this is a serious topic for all of us going forward. We are not here just to complain just because we want to complain about something, we are not like that.

“We all love the sport as it is. We all try to just make it like a better place and push it forward.

“This is just a concern for our health, all of us before even relating it to any performance, just putting all the performance aside.”

The short-term impact of setting a limit for the porpoising would hurt the teams struggling the most with it, as it would force them to increase the ride height of their cars to stop the issue which has a negative impact on performance.

“I think we are talking about, there are things that could be changed that would affect a very, very little part of the performance of everyone’s cars,” added Gasly.

Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning yesterday and although the weather has improved it is expected to be wet and windy for Friday’s practice sessions.

The sessions take place at 2pm and 5pm local time with the chance of rain and thundery showers high throughout.

Air temperature is expected to peak at 23 degrees Celsius and fall slowly as the afternoon light fades with windspeed peaks at 10-11mph but the easterly breeze will spin more southerly throughout the day.

This is how the track looked yesterday, it could be an interesting weekend.

Toto Wolff has played down claims that Lewis Hamilton has regressed as a driver, insisting that the Briton is not “losing his ability”.

Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula 1 titles, with six of them having come with his current team, Mercedes – including four in a row between 2017 and 2020.

The 37-year-old was one lap away from winning the title in 2021 and has struggled so far this season, but Mercedes team principal Wolff believes that car issues are to blame for Hamilton’s recent underwhelming finishes.

“No, I don’t think it’s like [he is in decline]. He is the best that has ever been,” Wolff told Channel 4, per Planet F1.

George Russell is pleased with the action of the FIA to address the issues of porpoising with a change to the rules. Russell was one a many drivers who voiced his concern about the bouncing cars after suffering a difficult ride with Mercedes in Azerbaijan.

“It’s promising to see that they’ve made action onon this straight away and it’s not taken them weeks and months and political decisions to change something like this,” Russell said in an interview with Sky Sports.

“So I’m pleasantly…not surprised to see it come in so quick, but I think it’s good for everyone.”

However, there are still people within Formula 1 that disagree with the decision as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko have already let it be known that they were not at all satisfied with the FIA’s intervention.

“This is something that everyone thinks Mercedes is pushing for.” added Russell, “But from a pure performance side of things we don’t really want change because if there’s change you never know if it’s going to go in your favour or against you.”

The rule, which is likely to be enforced from the British Grand Prix may have a negative impact on Mercedes’ W13. If a car bounces too hard over the asphalt or the frequency of bouncing is too high, the FIA will require a team to further increase the ride height.

This comes at the expense of speed and so race teams want to avoid it at all costs. As the W13 is one of the bouncier cars on the grid the new rules may end up cutting it’s speed and hurting the performance of the Mercedes.