Ferrari porpoising? Fans react as SF-23 bounces in Bahrain

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, SF-23, Testing — Photo: © LAT Images

Porpoising

Ferrari porpoising? Fans react as SF-23 bounces in Bahrain

The team from Maranello seems to be struggling with the new car in Bahrain.

Stuart Hodge

Thursday 23 February 2023 15:58 Updated: 16:21

It's that word again: porpoising.

It was hoped that we'd seen the last of it, as F1 fans, but unfortunately it may be making a very unwelcome return for 2023.

Whilst most cars look more settled compared to last year's challengers, Ferrari in particular has shown the issues look set to play a part this year.

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The SF-23 was visibly bouncing in a straight line, although it is as yet unclear whether this was aero or mechanical bouncing.

Obviously this is the very first run of the new cars around competitors so there is still some time to tackle problems early before the new season starts next week.

For Ferrari, though, the porpoising seems to have returned and the Italian team looks to have a lot of work to have a hope of resolving it before the start of the first race.

The Porpoising Horse

Due to copyright restrictions, we cannot show video of the bouncing Ferrari, but videos of Sainz's bumping car are circulating on social media

On Twitter, fans reacted to the bumping and bouncing with great gusto – and they are sure that porpoising is back for good.

Seeing Ferrari porpoising pic.twitter.com/ZZq6UoeUYU
&mdash ; jc (@carloquizon_) February 23, 2023

Yeah that Ferrari was bouncing bouncing, like porpoising bad
— Forza (@bagbaggybagM) February 23, 2023

ferrari is porpoising but redbull has poor ride quality bouncing all over those bumps
— Throttle #44 (@HammerWatch44) February 23, 2023

Ferrari porpoising 😭😭 May it continue
— Ikaris (@Eternal11th) February 23, 2023

Ferrari are pushing the setup it seems. It's bottoming/porpoising a lot down the straight.
— - (@F1Merc44) February 23, 2023

Teams adapting to 2023 technical regulations

It should be stated at this point, teams are still acclimatising to the new floor regulations with the rear section ride height raised compared to last year.

A technical directive was introduced midway through last year's championship to try and negate the effects of the issue but with ground effect aerodynamics, porpoising is impossible to completely eliminate.

It has returned with a vengeance though for a number of teams and drivers, most notably in Carlos Sainz's Ferrari on day one of testing although the Alpine also bounced noticeably on the Bahrain International Circuit track.

It's also worth noting that car set-ups are kept secret at this stage, so time will tell how much of an issue porpoising should prove to be for Ferrari and everyone else.