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F1 Teams Issued a Stern Warning Over Dangerous Consequences of Porpoising

Published 03/08/2022, 7:32 AM EST

There is a new term that F1 fans got to know at the preseason test in Barcelona, “porpoising.” The term was mentioned when people saw the cars doing a spring-like motion on the straights of the circuit. There have been many theories why this phenomenon occurs on the straights.

Since the discovery of porpoising with the ground effect cars, there has been a worry that this might be a safety issue in the 2022 season. Former F1 aerodynamicist Jean-Claude Migeot revealed that the sport needs to find a fix quickly for porpoising.

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We only saw the tip of the iceberg in Barcelona: Former F1 aerodynamicist

As reported by Motorsport-total, many drivers such as George Russell have come out and stated that porpoising might be a safety issue. Migeot agreed with the Mercedes driver and mentioned that what fans saw in Barcelona might just be the beginning of the issue.

“You have very little freedom and parameters that you can play with. You can’t ignore the optimization of the static forces that put the car in the best position for a corner. It’s strategic,” said the former engineer.

” o this solution is in the wind tunnel. The solution is to look at these forces and optimize them together with the static forces. I’m afraid it will take time because we only saw the tip of the iceberg in Barcelona.

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“On a bumpy track, it’s going to be pretty tragic because if you brake hard, then that effect will be pretty strong too. So we may experience very bad things. I think the FIA will react beforehand. If nobody has time to find the best solution, the FIA will have to react. But I hope I’m wrong because it’s going to be a nasty surprise,” said Migeot.

This is really concerning for F1 going into the new season with new cars. The sport introduced the ground effect cars so that we could have closer racing in the 2022 season.

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But no one imagined that the new cars would bring in a new safety issue that might need immediate rectification going forward. Hopefully, the teams will come up with a solution to minimize the effect of porpoising in the 2022 cars.

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Written by:

Devang Chauhan is an F1 author at EssentiallySports. Having completed his graduation in Journalism and Mass Communication, he has a keen eye for writing engaging and detailed articles on F1. Previously a writer for Sports Social's 'Chase Your Sport' Magazine, Devang has been an ardent follower of the sport for over a decade and has attended two editions of the Indian Grand Prix.

F1 Teams Issued a Stern Warning Over Dangerous Consequences of Porpoising

We only saw the tip of the iceberg in Barcelona: Former F1 aerodynamicist

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