Russell suggests the reintroduction of active suspensions to prevent porpoising
After winter testing in Barcelona, which was marked by issues with porpoising observed on certain cars, George Russell proposed the return of active suspensions to combat the phenomenon.
The Barcelona winter tests, the first opportunity for teams to test their new single-seaters, have provided some indications about the 2022 Formula 1 cars. With a new regulation aimed at allowing cars to follow each other more easily, teams had to start from scratch and adapt, especially to the return of ground effect. This concept has brought back an old demon from the early 1980s: “porpoising,” which causes strong bouncing on the single-seaters.
Overview notably on Charles Leclerc’s F1-75, the phenomenon is likely to pose many problems for the teams. George Russell, who has just joined Mercedes, gave his opinion on the matter.
« We were able to see on Charles [Leclerc]’s video how bad it was for them, so I think we will have to find a solution. With active suspensions, that could be resolved in the snap of a finger and the cars would be much faster », proposed the young British driver. « I’m sure all the teams are capable of doing it, so it could be a solution for the future. But we’ll see in Bahrain. I’m confident that everyone will have come up with good ideas to overcome this problem.
Active suspensions have been put on hold since 1994.
Such suspensions had been banned by the FIA in 1994 as part of a reduction in driving aids. However, they had almost made a comeback in 2014 before the idea was finally abandoned. Yet, for George Russell, active suspensions would be a more than credible solution for the new race cars. He stated, “I think that with active suspensions, the cars would clearly be faster for the same aerodynamic surface, because you would be able to optimize the correct ride height for each cornering speed and also optimize it on straight lines to minimize drag. So it’s an easy way to make the cars faster. And from a safety standpoint, potentially [it’s an improvement]. I’m sure there are more boundaries. I’m not an engineer, but we wouldn’t have this problem on straight lines, that’s for sure.”
On James Key’s side, the technical director of McLaren, the return of active suspensions would be a good thing for Formula 1. Active suspensions would help in two ways. You could maintain your aerodynamic performance for a larger part of the lap, which would be a good thing if you can achieve it. But it could also counter some of the natural frequencies that hit the chassis. So, it wouldn’t eradicate the problem, physics is still there, but it would certainly help manage it. However, James Key nuanced the usefulness of the project in times of cost reduction. As a technical director, I would love to see the return of active suspensions, but with the cost cap, it’s not the best project to pursue.
