Has F1's porpoising problem been eradicated in the 2023 cars?

By:

Alex Kalinauckas

Feb 23, 2023, 7:25 PM

The bouncing phenomenon was the talking point of F1 2022 pre-season testing but, one year on and with new rules aimed at eradicating porpoising, Autosport assesses whether it's now a thing of the past

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The Ferrari flashed through, climbing the hill left-to-right under pitch black skies. Sparks flew from its floor, its rear end bucking, bouncing. Porpoising?

The buzzword of the 2022 campaign was out again on the first day of 2023 pre-season testing, which got under way in Bahrain on Thursday. Just as Max Verstappen and Red Bull led the way in the times, still there was interest in the aerodynamic phenomenon that rather blighted the first season of Formula 1’s return to running ground-effects cars. And it was a fair question – had the minor rule revisions that raised rear floor edge heights by 15mm and elevated diffuser throats by 10mm finally eliminated porpoising for good?

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Alex Kalinauckas

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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.