GROUND EFFECTS AND PORPOISING

As Formula 1 ushers in a new era, a common problem has already afflicted almost all teams

- SHASHANK SINGH

Ground effects are back in F1! But hold on — it’s not all celebrations just yet. Porpoising, a word which has suddenly become a headache for almost all teams in early testing. What is porpoising? Well, it is the up and down motion, or oscillation, made by a dolphin-like aquatic mammal called the porpoise as it moves through the water. New era F1 cars, for some reason, are mimicking this motion under power down the straights. According to experts, this is due to an aerodynamic phenomenon called ground effects which is making its return after almost 40 years of absence in F1. To understand porpoising, we need to understand ground effects first.

We all know that up until the season-ending 2021, F1 cars relied solely on their wings (forward and rear) to generate necessary downforce. Downforce in simple terms is force generated by air flowing over the wings to press the car down on the track and generate more grip (over and above mechanical grip generated by suspension and tyres) for carrying greater speed around the fast corners and straights. Wings are essentially aerofoils that generate lift when air passes over them, as in aircraft, but in opposite direction on a racing car for obvious reasons. F1 teams have championed this method over many decades of development with their lap times unmatched by any other racing series.