What Is Porpoising?

The violent bouncing that plagued F1 in 2022 — why it happens and how teams fixed it.

You've seen the footage: F1 cars violently bouncing up and down like they're driving over speed bumps on a smooth track. Why would the world's most advanced racing cars suddenly start acting like broken shopping trolleys?

Porpoising happens when ground effect airflow becomes unstable. Modern F1 cars create downforce by channeling air under the floor — the faster the air moves underneath, the more the car gets sucked toward the track.

But here's the problem: when the car gets pulled too close to the ground, the airflow stalls. The suction disappears instantly, the car pops up, airflow restarts, and the cycle repeats. It's like a hydraulic pump that can't find equilibrium.

The 2022 regulation changes made this worse by design. Cars now generate about 60% of their downforce from the floor — compared to maybe 25% in the previous era. More ground effect means more potential for instability.

Teams initially ran their cars as low as possible to maximize this effect. But the closer to the ground, the more violent the bouncing becomes when the airflow breaks down.

The fix isn't just raising ride height — that kills performance. Instead, teams redesigned floor edges to maintain stable airflow at lower heights, adjusted suspension to control the bouncing without losing downforce, and found the sweet spot where maximum grip meets driver survival.

Some cars, like the Mercedes W13, took most of 2022 to solve it completely.

Now when you watch onboard footage, you'll notice the difference. A smooth ride means the team has mastered their ground effect package. Violent bouncing on the straights? They're still chasing setup, probably sacrificing driver comfort for that last tenth of downforce — and risking their weekend if they've gone too far.

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