Mercedes track engineering director Andrew Shovlin does not expect the 2026 cars to suffer the bouncing and porpoising problems that plagued the current generation of Formula 1 machinery, but says teams will have to remain alert for similar side effects.
Next year’s floor geometry will be more aligned with those used before 2022, with a largely flat floor between the front and the diffuser. Due to the expected airflow structures under the car, porpoising is much less likely to occur with the new floor.
While many theories prevailed in the early stages of the current regulations as to the root cause of porpoising and bouncing, it has been attributed to vortex structures under the car that explode under load. Essentially, the gusts caused the car to bounce, before approaching the ground again, creating a cyclical motion.
Shovlin believes that even if similar problems arise with next year’s cars, teams now have the knowledge to deal with the phenomena more easily. Still, expect teams to stumble over something as engineers explore the limits of the new aerodynamic formula.
“There will always be pitfalls and there will always be teams disappointed with the work they’ve done. You would never go into a new set of regulations thinking it’s going to be easy,” Shovlin explained.
“What you would say is that the regulations go back to the previous generation of cars, where it is unlikely that there will be the same problems with porpoises that affected the beginning of these regulations.
“Even if there were problems like that, with what we have learned in the intervening period with the tools we have developed to understand aerodynamics, we would be in a better place to deal with it.
George Russell, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsports Images
“There is always the challenge of trying to get a new balanced formula because we can work in the simulators, but in reality until you start putting the car on the track you don’t know exactly how it will behave.”
Shovlin also explored George Russell’s claim that, due to the spread in battery states of charge and power unit maps, F1 drivers may find “darker” areas to overtake other drivers next year.
He explained that the power deployment aspect of next year’s rules will offer greater strategic variation, although drivers needed to be careful not to consume excessive power in those situations to avoid being surprised later in the lap.
“It’s definitely a big factor that there is a shortage of energy and you have to do everything you can to harvest as much as possible,” Shovlin added.
“However, across the network the situation will be similar for everyone. When there is a shortage of energy, it creates a strategic opportunity for the driver to understand where he can deploy it.”
“There will be examples where it is relatively easy to overtake at the beginning of a lap, but you will be overtaken again later if you really drive like that. That’s how the formula will evolve.”
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a huge performance area, but it will be a big factor in terms of strategic racing.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5-minute survey.
– The Motorsport.com team