Without exception, all the teams suffered to a greater or lesser extent from the porpoising effect at high speeds on the main straight of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but Ferrari and Charles Leclerc took much of the attention after a video published by Formula 1 in which the extreme bounces up and down could be seen in great detail.
In Barcelona, the teams were able to minimize it with some adjustments to height and aerodynamics, but problems are expected to be common this year depending on the circuit, at least in the first races of the season, while the engineers will be looking for solutions to control it. .
“You feel it like turbulence in a plane, you go up and down the whole straight,” Leclerc said.
“I think that in one of the videos that Formula 1 published you can see quite well what happens with this phenomenon, and I can’t say that it feels good. I got a little dizzy, but it’s okay.
“We are in the early days of this project and it seems that it is a problem that everyone has to a greater or lesser extent, but in this paddock there are the best engineers in the world, so I am very sure that they will find a solution soon.
Some pundits claimed the Ferrari F1-75 was the most competitive car overall in Barcelona, but Leclerc preferred to be cautious about the car’s actual performance, although he admitted that the first test was promising for the Maranello team.
“We did a lot of laps without any major issues, which is always a great thing considering it’s a brand new project,” he said. “So this is positive because we tried a lot of new things.”
“Then in terms of performance, it is impossible to know where we are compared to the others because it is still very early, everyone is hiding a bit of their performance, and we will only know where we are in the first classification of the year.
“But so far it’s been a quiet three days for us, which is always a good thing. Overall the pre-season preparation has gone very well, I feel fitter than ever. Every year I try to set the bar a little bit higher, and I feel really good in the car.”
Regarding the atmosphere in the Maranello team, he said: “We are quite happy that things have gone this well.”
“On the other hand, I think we’re working harder than ever to stay focused. Of course, it’s always nice to see yourself in the top position, but that still doesn’t mean anything, and I think everyone is aware of that within the team.” .
“We are not focused on performance at all. We are just focused on ourselves, trying to try as many things as possible to understand the car. In Bahrain we will try to push harder,” Leclerc concluded.
