Porpoising is perhaps the word most used and heard during the first 2022 Formula 1 pre-season test session held this week at Montmelò in Barcelona. This is a noxious bounce that almost all the cars have experienced during the tests – especially on the straights – which has led the engineers to try to study solutions to prevent it from occurring while the cars are on the track at high speeds.
Ferrari launched a new fund on the F1-75 tested in the last of the three days of testing at Montmelò, but other teams also tried to overcome this problem with other solutions, even temporary ones, in order to conclude the first tests well. seen to have new material in the test session scheduled in Sakhir, Bahrain, in March.
Among the teams that have suffered the least from porpoising is McLaren – the MCL36 is perhaps the car that has shown fewer problems from this point of view – but also Alpine. This was stated by Pat Fry, technical director of the team based in Enstone.
In an interview with selected media, including Motorsport.com, the former McLaren and Ferrari engineer explained how Alpine noticed the porpoising since the filming day, which took place a few hours before the start of the Barcelona tests on the Catalan track. of Montmelò.
“During the tests we had no surprises with respect to the reactions of the car on the track,” said the technical director of the Alpine. “We had some surprises on filming day, with a bumping phenomenon that we solved and that we have all seen hit. We have to fix the behavior of the tires, but it’s not a huge problem.”
Fry then explained how in Alpine they did to mitigate the effect of porpoising. This was a major advantage for Alpine’s test program, although the team lost almost all of the last day due to a hydraulic failure that forced Alonso to stop on track after just doing 18 laps.
“How did we manage to cancel porpoising? It’s about finding the correct aerodynamic balance of the car: you don’t have to stress the aerodynamics too much. It’s not exactly an easy thing: you need a compromise between what you can reach as maximum speed on the straight and what you can achieve. you can get in the fast corners “.
Alpine will now be able to focus on preparing the A522 for the Sakhir tests. Reliability will be needed in the first races of the season, especially after the 5 red flags seen in the first half of Friday. Then, as is always the case in F1, performance will be needed. The transalpines will be able to run with less petrol already in the last tests in Bahrain, because in a few weeks everyone will have to throw off their masks and get serious.
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