What is porpoising in F1 and why is it creating so much controversy?

F1’s new rules for this season have forced teams to redesign their cars but some are struggling with extreme bouncing called porpoising. Previously, F1 cars used aerodynamics to push the car downwards into the ground. The faster it went, the more air flew over the car’s front and rear wings and as that weight increased, the lower the car went to the ground. The faster a car goes, the more the suction power of the floor, but of course once the car touches the ground, the airflow under the car stops. That stall in flow caused the car to lose that downforce and it springs back up again. However, once the gap is made under the car, the downward suction starts again until it touches the floor. The simple answer is to raise up the height of the F1 car. Unsurprisingly, that is not an option for the competitive F1 teams who are only focused on making their car go quicker.

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