“He’s absolutely right,” F1 champion Damon Hill approves of George Russell’s solution to porpoising

“He’s absolutely right,” F1 champion Damon Hill approves of George Russell’s solution to porpoising

Damon Hill

The first round of pre-season testing of the 2022 season got over a week ago in Barcelona, and a problem that came out on top for all the teams was that of porpoising. All teams struggled with it down the straight track. Some claim to have solved it quickly. However, it remains to be seen next week how much of it is resolved.

Porpoising simply means the effect in which the cars are bouncing at the end of the straight. It is a common effect in cars with so much ground effect.

And this problem was called a safety concern by the Mercedes driver George Russell, who later suggested a solution for it, a banned suspension system, a solution with which the former Williams driver and world champion Damon Hill agrees.

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What was George Russell’s solution that Damon Hill agrees with?

George Russell at Silverstone
George Russell at Silverstone

George Russell suggested the use of the active suspension system which was banned by F1. He said, as quoted by Autosport, “I guess if active suspension was there, it could be solved with a click of your fingers. And the cars would naturally be a hell of a lot faster if we had that.”

Damon Hill believes that Russell is right. He said this on the F1 Nation podcast, as quoted by the Planet F1, “He’s absolutely right. Because the brilliant thing about the active car was it could control much better the ride height of the car.”

He added, “We didn’t have the [wind] tunnels that you have now on the 2022 car – we had a flat bottom. You could still generate downforce from that, provided you could control the height of the car from the ground, and normal springs and dampers struggle, because they’re passive.

“In other words, the greater the load on the car, the more they squash up and the stiffer they get, and the more likely they are to rebound,” Hill concluded his reasoning for the solution.

George Russell will be driving full season for Mercedes, having previously driven in Bahrain in 2020, replacing an ill Lewis Hamilton. The driver holds a lot of potential and won’t let his teammate have it easy.

ALSO READ: George Russell’s Net Worth, Formula 1 Career, Salary, Girlfriend, and more