A former Formula 1 designer sees porpoising as a major problem, but one that the teams can hardly get to grips with using their options – Must the FIA intervene?
Porpoising is the new buzzword in Formula 1 that is currently causing some difficulties for the teams. The question is how to get a grip on this phenomenon. Because the possibilities to do so are quite limited, knows former Formula 1 aerodynamicist Jean-Claude Migeot.
He believes that the teams have to try to mitigate the porpoising effect as much as possible, mainly through aerodynamics. Other areas are too constrained: “You have very little freedom and parameters,
“You can’t ignore optimising the static forces that put the car in the best position for a corner. That’s strategic,” he says. And other possible innovations, such as on the suspension, are forbidden, he adds.
Therefore, the teams are not left with much: “So this solution is in the wind tunnel. The solution is to look at these forces and optimise them together with the static forces,” Migeot said. “I’m afraid that will take time because we only saw the tip of the iceberg in Barcelona.”
The former Tyrrell and Ferrari designer fears the problem could get worse if the FIA does not respond in some way. “On a bumpy track it’s going to be quite tragic because if you’re braking hard then that effect is going to be quite strong as well,” he says.
“So we might see some very bad things. I think the FIA will react before that. If nobody has time to find the best solution, the FIA will have to react,” Migeot said. “But I hope I am wrong because it will be a nasty surprise.”
He could imagine Formula 1 moving away from generating so much downforce via the underbody. “But then the downforce will be gone and we will have very slow cars. That’s not good, but maybe less bad at the moment. “
