The word that has made a comeback in the world of Formula 1 following the three-day test held by all the teams in Barcelona is porpoising. The ‘hopping’ of the cars on the straight is a phenomenon that has caught several teams unprepared and which has become evident even for less ‘technical’ enthusiasts thanks to some videos published by the official F1 channel. One of these featured Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, portrayed in a worrying series of ‘hops’ during the second day. In reality, the Maranello F1-75 is certainly not the only car on the grid to suffer from these problems. However, it is true that, among the top teams, there is one that suffers from it to a lesser extent.
This is the McLaren, emerged from Barcelona with decidedly positive feelings. The technical director of Woking, James Keytried to explain why MCL36 is less prone to porpoising of other single-seaters, recognizing that at the beginning of the season this can represent an advantage for papaya-colored cars. “I suppose it helps that you don’t suffer from it dramatically, because then maybe you can have a little more flexibility – explained Key, as reported by the site RacingNews365 – there have been some videos out there that have really suffered a lot. I think Ferrari was one of them, for example, while on the first day it seemed to be the most stable car. I imagine that everything will depend on how far you can push your set-up or your aerodynamic development “.
However, McLaren’s technical director honestly acknowledged that the MCL36 was not designed on purpose to be able to avoid this obstacle: “I don’t think it was just luck. I think the stability of the car plays a role in this, I would be lying though if I said it was all designed – admitted Key – I think it’s a phenomenon we all have to get used to. We hope that it resolves over time and that we will learn how to eliminate the problem“. The engineer of the Woking team, however, may want to ‘hide’ the intelligent strategy adopted on the new papaya car. The now chat ‘skirt’ of the British car, in fact, seems to be able to contribute not a little to the stability of the car.
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