What can destroy the winning streaks maintained for 8 years by a team? And what can shatter a driver’s record of winning races in every season he participates in? What can end a team’s dominance for a decade in Formula One? PORPOISING ISSUES! Any Formula One car facing proposing issues can give nothing but uncertain outcomes. It can destroy everything!
Unfortunately, in 2022 Mercedes developed a car named W13, which was bouncy enough to risk Lewis Hamilton’s life, dignity, records, and everything that he achieved in his 16 years of F1 career. In Baku, during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Hamilton faced huge bouncings. He had to back off at turns 18 and 19. He claimed he was going to crash. And with a sudden high speed, he felt the strangest thing on the track that day. Not only Mercedes but several other teams like Aston Martin also faced the same problem. FIA finally took this issue seriously and launched a set of regulations aiding in the porpoising issues faced by Formula One teams.
This Is Why The Porpoising Will Remain There Despite The Regulation Change
However, despite the implementation of the technical changes to reduce the bouncing issues of the cars, one of the Formula One team’s Deputy Technical Director can sense the same issue once again in 2023. According to Eric Blandin, Aston Martin’s Technical director, the porpoising issues of the championship-winning single-seaters will not “disappear completely.” According to Eric Blamdin, even after the change in the regulation in 2023, which suggested high rides of the cars, the porpoising problems will remain there because :
There is a big tunnel channeling air underneath a car that runs too close to the ground. This ultimately leads to a skirt created by the floor edge that seals the air in. “The overall combination makes the car susceptible to porpoising,” he said in an interview with Aston Martin.
It Is Not Possible To Predict If The Car Is Again Developing The Porpoising Issues
In addition, Blandin explains that each Formula One car experiences some degree of oscillation. However, as the regulation is changed, now due to the aerodynamic load and the variation in the load, the oscillation created gets more pronounced. However, there are some ways by which the teams can try to get over the PORPOISING ISSUES. The Aston Martin Deputy Technical Director has revealed that their team is already focusing on making changes to this year’s car in order to remain out of the bouncing effects.
However, no one can guarantee that it is going to work or not. He said, “It will be known only after we test the car on the track.” But fans do not need to worry because Aston Martin has got “several tools in their armory to combat the porpoising if it comes back again in the 2023 car.
Besides, it remains difficult to predict the issues before the season begins, especially with the porpoising thing. As suggested by Eric Blandin, “Simulating the problem is very complicated.” We do not have much of tools that can do it. Just normal software is all the teams got, which can somehow suspect such issues coming. It is a dynamic problem.
