The ‘porposing’ has returned to Formula 1. The most repeated word in the ‘paddock’ in 2022 had disappeared this year of the lives of pilots and teams thanks to the height of the single-seaters, which increased 15 millimeters for safety, but in the Spanish Grand Prix this phenomenon has reappeared.
This problem has mainly affected Red Bull and Mercedes. The German team has not been caught by surprise, since in Barcelona they are riding the new concept of the W14 with pontoons, so they still have to fine-tune the set-up.
However, Red Bull’s problems are much more worrisome. The Austrian team did not suffer from this phenomenon even in 2022, when it was a widespread problem. But after the improvements that premiere this weekend, the RB19 has been more unstable in fast corners.
The changes in Montmeló will increase ‘porpising’
He Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya It has changed the layout of the third sector, converting Turn 13, which was previously a slow turn, into a full-throttle turn at over 250km/h to reach Turn 14 at almost 330km/h.
From that speed the rebound is accentuated, which makes both turns a real challenge for the drivers due to how unstable the cars become.
That’s exactly what he complained about. Lando Norris. the pilot of McLaren he was on the verge of losing control of his car when trying to do the last corner fully while suffering from ‘porpoising’. That scare provoked complaints from the British over the radio, assuring that the car was “undriveable”.
about that he has spoken Andrea Stella, McLaren team manager, who attributes the rebound to the characteristics of the circuit and not to his car. “If we were alone here, I’d say it’s porposingwe know it can be had elsewhere, but the fact that we’ve heard the same thing from Red Bull, I think it highlights that could be something in the circuit, which everyone has to deal with“, explained Stella in statements collected by ‘Motorsport.com’.
The Italian director assures that the third sector of the Catalan track is very bumpy, and that this circumstance will force the teams to change the configuration of their cars.
“So it could be a track feature, a challenge that I would say we definitely have to deal with. We understand that Mercedes and Red Bull have to deal with it.based on our feedback, and could be a performance limitation because you need to make some adjustments that could cost something in another section”, assured Andrea Stella.
