The comeback of the “porpoising” for Ferrari. I haven’t seen anyone bounce back as much as Carlos Sainz

The first practice session in Bahrain has just ended and some observers are starting to draw lessons from what they have seen. This is the case for journalist Anthony Davidson, who noticed during this morning’s session that Carlos Sainz’s SF-23 tended to bounce a lot on track. There was a lot of porpoising from the car in the last corner. It’s a bumpy track, but I haven’t seen anyone’s head bounce as much as Sainz’s. Maybe they’re just trying to slide the car to test its limits. There were bounces in turn 12 and sparks at the back.

Dolphin behavior, the dread of all pilots

“Marsouinage” has been the buzzword of the last championship because teams have suffered from it, some more than others. This phenomenon, which causes the car to bounce back and forth, makes it unstable on straight lines and leads to even more complicated braking than usual. Additionally, drivers’ visibility is also impacted by the vibrations, as well as the condition of their backs after each race. In order to minimize this phenomenon, teams have been forced to increase the ride height of their cars, reducing their force and speed. Despite the measures implemented by the FIA to fight against porpoising this season, the 2023 cars have already shown signs of it during the first morning of preseason testing, as demonstrated by Carlos Sainz.

Although hindered by dolphin jumping, Sainz still finished the session in second position, 0.294 seconds behind Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Mercedes, heavily affected by the phenomenon in 2022, didn’t seem to have any notable issues.