What is porpoising in F1?

Porpoising is a phenomenon that causes F1 cars to violently bounce up and down on their rear suspensions at near top speeds – imitating the motion that porpoises make when moving through the ocean, hence the name.

The phenomenon is mostly limited to ’ground-effect' cars. Such cars generate most of their downforce through the Venturi tunnels on the underfloor that compress and expand airflow to create a low-pressure area, which then sucks the car into the ground, providing grip.

Ground-effect works in most scenarios, but as the car builds up speed, especially in a straight line, there is a greater chance of porpoising being triggered. As the car travels faster and faster, the air being pushed through the Venturi tunnels increases, thus sucking the car even further towards the ground.

If for some reason, the rear of the car is disturbed — for instance, due to a bump — then the car’s underfloor, being so close to the ground, might hit the tarmac. This stalls the underfloor and violently pushes the car’s rear upwards.

As the car stabilizes once again, the underfloor goes back to normal, and starts producing downforce again, hits the ground once again, and stalls in a vicious cycle, until the driver slows down into a corner.

While the violent bouncing doesn’t have a significant impact on performance, it can lead to massive headaches for drivers, and can even damage the cars’ underfloor. With a ban on hydraulic suspensions from 2022, teams will need to come up with clever solutions to tackle the problem.

This effect was previously observed in F1 when ground-effect cars last raced in the sport between the late 70s and the early 80s. With a return to ground effect after nearly 40 years with the new regulations, teams need to once again tackle an age-old problem.

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F1 teams underestimated the impact of porpoising: Binotto

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto feels F1 teams underestimated the impact of porpoising on the new cars after a return to ground effect. Speaking to the media at the Barcelona test, he said:

“It seems that most of us at least underestimated the problem. We found when we were on track, we are bouncing more than expected.”

Binotto believes preventing the phenomenon’s occurrence could be straightforward. The Italian expects teams to come up with solutions within the first few rounds of the new season.

He also feels that whichever team manages to find a solution at the earliest will have an advantage over the rest. Meanwhile, Alpha Tauri team principal Franz Tost believes finding a solution for the phenomenon in itself will carry a performance penalty, which teams will need to tread lightly upon.