Mercedes finds optimal ride height after overcoming porpoising

Mercedes believes it has finally found the optimal ride height for its 2024 Formula 1 car - a goal that proved elusive over the past two seasons.

The German automaker faced considerable challenges since the introduction of ground-effect cars at the beginning of the 2022 season. In the previous year, the W13 model suffered from porpoising - a phenomenon causing the car to oscillate vertically.

Additionally, Mercedes struggled with a narrow operating window for the ride height, affecting the car's downforce production and forcing it to maintain a very low stance.

This predicament had a twofold impact: the risk of bouncing due to increased downforce levels and the necessity for rigid suspension settings that left the car vulnerable to issues on uneven tracks and curbs.

For the current season's W14 iteration, the team aimed to achieve downforce effectiveness across a broader spectrum of ride heights.

This strategy was influenced by the FIA's decision to raise the floor's edge by 15mm, a change expected to aid the cause.

However, reports suggest that Mercedes exercised excessive caution in determining its ride height approach. In an attempt to avoid a recurrence of porpoising problems, the team erred on the side of running the car higher off the ground.

Consequently, it ended up operating at an elevation noticeably above that of its competitors, sacrificing potential performance gains.

Technical Director James Allison confirmed this stance during the week, explaining that the team's decision was motivated by a desire to mitigate the risk of encountering porpoising issues.

"Although we made great strides last year, 2023 presented all the Teams with a rule change that offered some protection against bouncing," he said.

"Over the winter we faced a choice. Go aggressive and trade the bouncing protection in the rule change for performance, or take a more cautious route and steer clear of the sort of porpoising that wrecked our season last year.

"We chose the cautious path, knowing that it would be less painful to correct if we were wrong. The story of our year so far has been mostly about finding out that we had been too cautious and making the changes to correct that."