Russell: 'Active suspensions' would instantly solve porpoising issue

George Russell reckons that a return of active suspension in F1 would solve the porpoising issues impacting this year's designs "with a click of your fingers".

During the first leg of pre-season testing in Barcelona, all teams dealt to various degrees with the vertical oscillation effect that occurs to a car at high speed on the straight and which has emerged as an unexpected consequence of F1's new regulations centered around ground effect aerodynamics.

Last week, several teams appeared to have been able to minimize the pumping effect but sometimes to the detriment of a car's overall performance.

Russell feared the issue, if it remains unsolved, could become a safety concern.

"I think it has the potential to be a real safety concern if it gets out of control," Russell said in Barcelona.

"If you're flat out down the straight and it starts to happen, you don't want to back off in a race scenario. We saw with Charles' video just how bad it was for them, so I think we will need to find a solution."

The Mercedes driver then suggested that active suspension, a technology pioneered by Williams in the early 90s that allows a car to constantly optimize its ride height, would eliminate the porpoising phenomenon almost instantly.

Active systems were banned on the grounds of cost and reducing driver aids ahead of the 1994 F1 season.

"I guess if active suspension was there, that could be solved with the click of your fingers," Russell said. "That could be one for the future.

"The cars would be a hell of a lot faster for the same aerodynamic surfaces, because you'd be able to optimise the ride heights for every corner speed, and optimise it down the straight for the least amount of drag.

• Read also: McLaren surprised to escape 'porpoising' issues in Spain

"That's an easy way to make the cars go faster. I'm sure there are more limitations, I'm not an engineer, but we wouldn't have this issue down the straight, that's for sure."

However, Russell was also confident that teams, while taken aback by the problem, will have fixes implemented when F1 resumes testing in Bahrain next week.

"But let's see in Bahrain," he said. "I'm sure the teams will come up with some smart ideas around this issue."

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