02/03/2022
NEWS STORY
Mercedes driver, George Russell believes the reintroduction of active suspension to F1 would resolve the porpoising issue witnessed in Barcelona.
Over the course of the three day test some were affected far more than others by the phenomenon the experts don't appear to have accounted for even though it was an issue when ground effect was previously allowed in F1.
Ahead of next week's test in Bahrain the affected teams will be working frantically in a bid to overcome the phenomenon with most of the work expected to involve the re-profiling of the cars' floors.
Mercedes was among those most affected, and at a time the sport is looking to its past (ground effect) to improve the show, George Russell believes that the sport should be looking at another component previously banned from F1, active suspension.
First introduced to F1 by Lotus - that is the real Lotus, the Lotus founded by Colin Chapman, not the imposters witnessed over the last couple of decades - in 1983, the system, allowed the centre of pressure beneath the car to remain constant by automatically monitoring and adjusting the ride height. Though introduced by Lotus, it was Williams that got the headlines when it fine-tuned the system in 1992.
Unfortunately, just two years later the system was banned, along with most other 'driver aids', amidst claims that it made driving the cars too easy as well as creating a greater divide between the haves and have nots due to its sheer expense.
Russell, who believes the porpoising witnessed last week will become a safety issue unless it is resolved, says active suspension could be the answer.
"I think it has the potential to be a real safety concern if it gets out of control," he told the media in Barcelona. "If you're flat out down the straight and it starts to happen, you don't want to back off in a race scenario.
"We saw with Charles' video just how bad it was for them," he added, referring to footage of Leclerc's Ferrari 'bouncing' on the main straight, "so I think we will need to find a solution.
"I guess if active suspension was there, that could be solved with the click of your fingers," said the youngster. "That could be one for the future.
"The cars would be a hell of a lot faster for the same aerodynamic surfaces, because you'd be able to optimise the ride heights for every corner speed, and optimise it down the straight for the least amount of drag.
"That's an easy way to make the cars go faster," he added. "I'm sure there are more limitations, I'm not an engineer, but we wouldn't have this issue down the straight, that's for sure."
McLaren technical director, James Key, who is an engineer, agrees.
"Active would help in two ways," he said. "You could aim to try and keep around your peak aero performance for more of the lap, which is a lovely place to be if you can do it.
"But also it could, in some way, possibly counter some of the natural frequencies hitting the chassis as well. So, again, it wouldn't eradicate the problem, the physics are still there, but it would certainly help manage it.
"As a technical director, I'd love to see the return of active suspension personally," he admitted. "But, with the cost cap, it's not the best project to be doing."
Indeed, for active suspension, ground effects, traction control and the rest were all introduced when the FIA was seeking, without success, to impose some sort of financial restraint on teams.
Now, with teams limited to $140m to divert some of that to developing an active suspension system would mean less money on developing the car.