“I don’t think it’s anything to complain about,” Lando Norris comfortable with his car after the latest porpoising incidents
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Lando Norris
Lando Norris in his McLaren is one of the few drivers who seem to be affected by the porpoising the least, where even Ferrari and Mercedes couldn’t find a solution to it, Norris has a simple trick for the same. After the race in Baku, Lewis Hamilton was seen struggling to get out of his W13 because of the back pain he had suffered from during the race due to the porpoising. He said it multiple times on the radio that the car was being hard on his back. Other drivers on the grid had to go through similar struggles.
Watch: How F1 teams may be using porpoising problems to close the gap
The porpoising comes in because of the “ground effect” that is brought back in the sport after many years. This demanded a major change in the cars, only for them to race closer and perform better. But all of this resulted in the cars violently bouncing up and down during fast and long straights on the track. Mercedes had such a bad case of the same that viewers on TVs were able to hear the suspension of the car crazily over the sound of the engine.
The solution for the same that has been proposed is racing the ride height of the car. Although this would solve the problem to an extent, it also comes with a cost; the aerodynamics would be affected a lot and the car would go much slower than others.
However, Lando Norris believes that the problem could be fixed if the teams are not focussed entirely upon the performance of the car, but also the comfort inside the cockpit.
Lando Norris’ McLaren one of the few cars who are not suffering so much from porpoising.
While most of the major teams cannot help it, McLaren have managed to keep the porpoising of the car at minimal levels, and Norris states that it is because of the ride height and proper priorities by the team. PlanetF1 quoted Lando.
“So I’m sure Mercedes could have a much different floor and raise the ride height and it would be much nicer for them, but they obviously just don’t want to lose performance.”
“So I don’t think it’s anything to complain about. It’s just people need to find ways of fixing it themselves.”
While drivers in the McLaren are enjoying their ride, many drivers like Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, and team principals which included Toto Wolff from Mercedes came forward to talk about the issue and how it is affecting the drivers’ health. Speculations also had that Lewis Hamilton might as well miss the Canadian Grand Prix following the immense pain after the Azerbaijan GP.
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Gunaditya Tripathi
(274 Articles Published)