Verstappen: 'Difficult to solve that without loss of downforce'

10 March 2022 at 12:02

Last update 10 March 2022 at 17:45

GPblog.com

Porpoising was also the topic of conversation on the first of three test days in Bahrain. Several teams have already come up with a new design of the floor to counteract the bouncing, but nobody seems to have found the perfect solution yet. Max Verstappen agrees that Red Bull also suffers from the phenomenon.

At Verstappen.com the 24-year-old Dutchman was asked to what extent porpoising plays a role at Red Bull Racing and the RB18. "I think every team is suffering from that so far. It's very difficult at the moment to solve that without losing downforce, of course you don't want that. I think this is something that does come with the designs of these new cars."

Three more test days are scheduled before the first Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain. The Austrian racing team is going to use those days to test different things. "We are going to try different things to solve it in any case," said Verstappen. Red Bull will still drive the Thursday with a car that is almost identical to the one used in Barcelona. More updates will arrive on Friday and Saturday, designer Adrian Newe proclaimed

Mercedes already with updates

Whereas Red Bull will only come up with improvements for the 2022 car later, Mercedes has already packed up on Thursday. The German formation appeared in Bahrain with a very radical W13 with no side pods. In fact, the design is so innovative that Formula 1 admits that they did not expect such a thing to be possible with the new regulations.

The problem of porpoising has not yet been completely solved by Mercedes' update package as we saw on Thursday morning, so there is still work to be done by the men from Mercedes.