Porpoising seems to have significantly decreased its presence on Formula 1 single-seaters, especially in the last few weeks before the summer break, yet – at least as an argument – it has remained central to the FIA.
Teams and drivers, after a complex start to the season precisely due to the aerodynamic effect that involved almost all the teams, have found a way to mitigate the phenomenon that has reappeared in F1 after years due to the introduction of ground-effect cars.
Thanks to interventions on the funds, on the suspensions and in other areas of the cars, the teams were able to live with porpoising, also being able to lower the cars, benefiting greatly from this factor. Yet the FIA, after several complaints from some teams – especially Mercedes – during the first part of the spring, shows no sign of mitigating its interest in this topic.
Over the last few hours, the president of the Federation, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, confirmed that this week he will present to the World Motorsport Council the new measures that will be introduced in Spa-Francorchamps after the Technical Directive 39/2022, but also the changes to the 2023 regulation. aimed at decreasing the effects of porpoising.
“Having discussed porpoising with all 20 Formula 1 drivers and 10 team principals, I am happy to confirm that this week we will be presenting the updated 2023 Technical Regulations to the World Motorsport Council to address this issue, in addition to the measures already taken to address this issue. the rest of this season, “said Ben Sulayem with a short tweet that appeared on his official Twitter channel.
Porpoising: the measures introduced by Spa and how they work
As regards the Technical Directive 39/2022, these are the measures that will be adopted by Spa-Francorchamps to reduce the porpoising problem.
1. A closer examination of the boards and skids, both in terms of design and wear.
2. The definition of a metric, based on the vertical acceleration of the car, which will provide an acceptable limit of vertical oscillations. The exact mathematical formula for this metric is still being analyzed by the FIA and Formula 1 teams have been invited to contribute to this process.
To collect the oscillation data (AOM, aerodynamic oscillation metric), each pilot on Friday will have to run a sequence of three consecutive laps at high speed, but without using the moving wing. Should the FIA suspect that the pace held by the driver in the three laps is deliberately altered, therefore below his speed potential of the car, the driver will be called to repeat the three laps.
Once the checks have been passed, the height, spring and shock absorber adjustment values will be frozen, as well as the aerodynamic configuration. In practice, the teams at the end of Free Practice 3 will present to the FIA a form containing all the parameters involved for the checks, together with the oscillation values which must absolutely be within the limits set.
The teams will be able to change these parameters only if the qualifying conditions are different from those indicated in Free Practice 3. For example the arrival (or absence) of rain.
F1 2023: why the FIA wants to prevent porpoising
Act immediately, but also in the future to prevent. This is the intention of the FIA and that is why in these days profound changes on the technical regulations for 2023 will be presented to the World Motorsport Council, which will have the task of ratifying them and then making them come into force from 1 January of the year. next.
The FIA fears that the improvements teams will make to single-seaters in 2023 could increase downforce and, among the consequences, also cause more problems by resurrecting porpoising in a striking way.
As for the changes to be made, after listening to the teams, the Federation’s technical department thought of a 25 mm rise in the bottom, a rise in the throat of the diffuser under the bottom, the introduction of lateral deflection tests of the tighter bottom and the use of a more precise sensor to quantify the aerodynamic oscillation.
2023 measures: Ferrari and Red Bull opposed but mocked
Mercedes pushed hard in the first part of the World Championship to have measures that could limit porpoising after suffering the aerodynamic phenomenon disproportionately compared to direct competitors.
Ferrari and especially Red Bull did a better job right from the start. Porpoising was also present on the F1-75s and, to a very limited extent, also on the RB18s, but certainly not to prevent the single-seaters from obtaining great results or limiting their performance on the track.
“I think it would be unfair to penalize those who have done a good job compared to those who have slightly missed the target – clarified Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, fearing the intervention of the Federation – the FIA should intervene only in case it should there is a real safety problem on the whole starting grid. But if it concerns isolated teams, then it is a problem that the teams in question have to face ”.
More recently, the Ferrari team principal had reiterated his opposition to changes in the 2023 technical regulation. The changes will in fact arrive between August and September, that is when the concepts of next year’s single-seaters have already been chosen and, on these, it is in progress. the design of the same.
“I hope there is no change, I see no real reason to make changes to the technical regulations for safety reasons, especially if we look at the latest races,” said Binotto in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com.
“In addition, if the aerodynamic regulations were to change for 2023 it would be a considerable problem considering the time of year we are in, there would be very little time to change the concept of the new car. And, I repeat, there are no reasons to introduce changes to the technical regulation citing safety reasons. So, I believe it will not happen, and if it does, we will try to understand how to stop them “.
The hopes of the two team principals who, with their teams, are playing the 2022 World Cup have been rejected to senders due to the tweet with which Ben Sulayem announced the arrival of the 2022/2023 anti-porpoising proposals at the World Motorsport Council .
If until a few weeks ago Mercedes could have benefited from this situation, now the picture seems to put all the teams in the same situation: they will have little time to review next year’s projects and, certainly, it is not a small problem. The budget cap is a sword of Damocles present, with which everyone will have to deal.
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