Carlos Sainz reveals porpoising is “killing” Ferrari as theory for slump put forward
An explanation for Ferrari's mini-slump in performance has been put forward following qualifying in Barcelona.
Carlos Sainz has revealed that porpoising - the bouncing phenomenon - has been affecting Ferrari at this weekend’s F1 Spanish Grand Prix.
Porpoising was a major issue for the majority of the grid for most of the teams during the first year of the regulations in 2022.
However, as teams have slowly understood the rules, it’s been less of a problem, until this weekend.
Ferrari were the third-fastest team in qualifying as they secured fifth and sixth on the grid.
Much was expected of Ferrari given the team introduced a significant upgrade package for this weekend.
Speaking to select media including Crash.net in Barcelona, Sainz explained that bouncing in high-speed corners was a serious problem for Ferrari.
“No, we've been struggling all weekend with the high speed corners,” he said. “We still have this bouncing phenomenon that gives us a very tough time in the high speed corners.
“Probably this is also killing a bit of the tyre for the third sector, I don't know, still the third year of these regulations and fighting this porpoising in high speed corners when you put lateral load in the car and it's been tough all weekend to try and get rid of it.
“And still we haven't managed to get rid of it and we come to this track. And you can see McLaren and Red Bull zero bouncing and I think they're doing a good job.”
Like teammate Charles Leclerc, Sainz is adamant that Ferrari’s recent upgrades are working as intended.
“Yes, they seem to be working fine,” he explained. “Three and a half tenths with all the upgrades that everyone is bringing. You go back to Suzuka in Japan we were three and a half tenths, half a second maybe a bit more [slower]. So it's just I think very track dependent right now for everyone.
“The only clear ones that they've joined the fight is Mercedes. And that Miami upgrade from McLaren has put them from a step back from us to a step forward.
“So we just keep digging and keep trying to bring things, we're probably going to need to find something to unlock some more performance in this kind of medium high speed tracks where the bouncing and the ride is still important.”
