McLaren confident porpoising won't be a talking point "after first five or six races"
McLaren confident porpoising won't be a talking point "after first five or six races"
McLaren technical director James Key believes porpoising will stop becoming a talking point "after the first five or six races" as teams seek to get on top of the phenomenon recently witnessed in F1 testing.
Due to the characteristics of the latest ground-effect cars, a number have suffered from bouncing along the straights due to the aerodynamic airflow under the floor.
Key has explained how porpoising is caused by a combination of car setup and the aero surfaces of the car and believes solutions will be found.
"What we found is that you can have a combination of things which kind of promote it, then you can back out of that.," said Key.
"As you'd expect more often than not, promoting it is theoretically the right way to go with the setup or aero development, then you find it's kicking it off a bit more.
"So I think there's something to learn and I'm sure it's something everyone will get on top of.
"It's a topic because it's very visible but ultimately there will be solutions there between the setup and aero development where you discover how to manage it.
"I wouldn't have thought it would be much of a talking point after the first five or six races.
Problem will not go away completely
Despite teams working to solve the porpoising problem, Key has claimed that due to the ground-effect nature of the cars, the issue will never be completely solved but further work will ease matters.
"There are always going to be a bit of inherent ground proximity reactions like that as they're ground-effect cars," added Key.
"The ride-height sensitivity, as we can see looking at the end of the straight, everything is on the ground.
"It's far more sensitive to that. It's inherent and that's why we're seeing it now. I think we'll learn to manage it.
"If we go the way in which we generate the downforce and how it looks with your ride-height map, the ride-height rubbing, the mechanical setups we might use to try and adapt to avoid that, the difficult regions with updated ways of setting up, all of those things will materialise as we go along and there's an awful lot to find on these cars and a huge amount to learn.
"I don't think the phenomena will be eradicated as it's a physical thing, but in terms of managing it, it could be significantly less of an issue and talking point after a little bit of development work."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Cocky sporting legend CHALLENGES Hamilton in stunning claim
- 21 minutes ago
Ricciardo boss in 'super disappointing' claim amid RB stars' performance
- 1 hour ago
F1 team 'set to announce MEGA signing' in major Red Bull challenge
- 2 hours ago
Horner in BRUTAL Wolff swipe amid Verstappen to Mercedes links
- 3 hours ago
Hamilton car camera captures Verstappen's TRUE feelings toward F1 rival
- Today 18:57
F1 star hits back at Sky pundit with 'boring old man' jibe
- Today 17:57
Related news
Young F1 star set to make McLaren debut in injury replacement
F1 star reveals how Verstappen and Hamilton rivalry influenced key decision
Norris reveals CRUCIAL save that kept him at McLaren
F1 star hints future Ferrari move after Hamilton influence
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860