McLaren expects porpoising to be history after just five races

During the first days of testing in Barcelona, the new Formula One cars already faced a major problem. The cars are suffering from "porpoising," but McLaren technical director James Key does not believe the problem will continue.

The reintroduction of the so-called ground effect causes the cars to bounce around the track when reaching high speeds on the straights. Due to the violent shaking of the suspension, this can cause a loss of downforce.

Key thinks that the teams will quickly find a solution to the problem by adjusting the setup or by aerodynamic developments. "I am sure it is something that everyone will get on top of. I do not think it’ll be much of a topic after the first five or six races”, the technical director is quoted on Crash.net.

No worries at McLaren

McLaren itself did not appear to be suffering as much from porpoising compared to other teams. Indeed, rumours suggest that the floor design contributes to stability at high speed. "We suffered from it a bit but it is not a major concern or distraction for our drivers right now", Key says. From March 10 to 12, Formula One heads to the Bahrain circuit for its second week of testing in 2022. The teams will probably already come up with the first solutions to the problem there. At Ferrari, the problem would already be history according to Mattia Binotto.