'Other teams suspect Red Bull and Ferrari did know about this'

Porpoising is the word of 2022 in Formula 1, but some teams are more affected by it than others. In the paddock, there are noises that Ferrari and Red Bull Racing may have known about this phenomenon beforehand.

During the first test days of the 2022 season, many engineers were left speechless. Hours had been spent developing the car, but the bouncing of the car due to porpoising had not been thought of by anyone, even though it is a phenomenon that has occurred before in Formula 1.

Knowledge of Newey

In the 1980s, when the 'ground effect cars' last appeared in F1, this was also a problem. Ferrari and Red Bull strongly deny this, but Auto, Motor und Sport Ferrari and Red Bull deny this, but state that there is a suspicion among other teams that they were aware of the phenomenon. Respectively Rory Byrne and Adrian Newey Ferrari and Red Bull have two people in the top who were already active in F1 at that time.

Yet the solutions for both teams are different. Red Bull would have a car that is very high at the back in a standstill, but that backdrops during driving. That way the RB18 has margin to the asphalt and bouncing can be reduced. The disadvantage of that high rear end is the fact that Red Bull loses downforce and suffers more drag.

Trick of Ferrari

Ferrari, according to Mercedes, is very stable due to the amount of downforce, AMuS understands. The car does bounce on the straight, but once in the corner, the bouncing stops. The car has so much grip that the distance to the asphalt can be kept equal. That is why the drivers themselves do not have so many problems with porpoising.

Mercedes itself is still searching in that respect. Many solutions seem to work poorly or not at all or just cause another problem. The German team is now looking at the improvements Red Bull has made to see what might work for its W13.