Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz hopes that teams come up with a solution to the ‘annoying’ porposing issues they faced in Barcelona last month.
F1 fans were introduced to the word ‘porpoising‘ in the first pre-season test last month. This term was used to describe Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, when it was seen bouncing up and down on the straights.
The issue arose with design changes to the 2022 cars. Most of the downforce is generated by the airflow under the car. As a result, the cars are pulled towards the ground when at higher speeds. This leads to the cars bouncing, or ‘porpoising’ down the straights.
Almost all F1 teams had to face this problem last month, and some have labeled it as a safety concern. In fact, Mercedes’ George Russell has called for a return of ‘active suspension‘, to counter the issue.
Ahead of the next pre-season test in Bahrain this week, Leclerc’s teammate Sainz is hoping for a solution to these problems. He revealed that they don’t feel great, and can get very ‘annoying’.
“It doesn’t feel great, obviously,” the Ferrari driver said. “Especially when you think that we’re doing 300 kmph, and we’re jumping up and down like crazy. Annoying.”
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Carlos Sainz trusts the F1 engineers to come up with a solution soon
Sainz went on to say that he’s sure his team can come up with a viable solution. The 2022 cars are very different from it’s predecessors. As a result, the drivers, mechanics and engineers need some time to get used to the changes.
“Hopefully it’s resolved and it’s not something that we need to live with,” the 27-year old continued. “It’s quite on the limit.”
“You have to trust the engineers and everyone around you that it’s just going to keep getting better, as we learn these ground effect cars.”
Sainz wasn’t the only driver to speak up about the porpoising problems. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas admitted that the car bouncing up and down affected his sight, when at high speed corners.
“I would say it affects a bit of everything,” the Finn said. “For sure it’s not very comfortable if it happens, visually it gets a bit tricky and you lose overall load because basically, the level of the downforce goes up and down and it can affect the braking as well.”
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