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Ricciardo, McLaren, Testing

McLaren hint at element of luck with porpoising escape

Ricciardo, McLaren, Testing — Photo: © LAT Images

McLaren hint at element of luck with porpoising escape

The team seemed to experience the least amount of bouncing in Barcelona

McLaren believes its lack of porpoising compared to other teams on the grid is "not by design" and down to the stability of the chassis.

The porpoising phenomenon, where the cars bounce vigorously in a straight line, is caused by the ground-effect philosophy of the new aerodynamic regulations.

This affected some teams more than others during pre-season testing in Spain with McLaren seemingly escaping as the least-affected team.

Speaking in a media briefing including GPFans, McLaren technical director James Key said: "I'd love to make out that we've been super clever, but the reality is this is very difficult to simulate.

"It involves tyre stiffnesses, the heave modes of the car as clearly, if it's in tune with the chassis, that's when you really see it go off when you've got a natural frequency on the scrubbed mass as well.

"I don't think it's entirely like that, I think the stability of the car does play its role in how well the car handles on loading in various conditions, but I'd be lying if I said it was by design.

"It's a phenomenon that we're all going to get used to from track running with the reality of these cars and hopefully iron out as time goes on."

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