"There's less porpoising" - Kevin Magnussen feels floor changes have had desired outcome but cites one drawback
While generally happy with the changes to the rules regarding cars' floors for the 2023 Formula 1 season, Kevin Magnussen has also brought to light a drawback.
To counter the excessive porpoising teams experienced last year, F1 has tweaked some regulations on safety grounds. For the upcoming season, floor edges were raised by 15mm to prevent teams from running their cars as close to the ground as last year, thereby reducing the bouncing.
During the three-day pre-season testing in Bahrain, very few cars struggled with porpoising — proof that the regulating changes have had their desired effect.
Haas F1's driver Magnussen believes that while the floor changes have had the desired outcome, they have also led to drivers dealing with cars that are more sensitive to wind.
Speaking during the Bahrain pre-season test, he said (via Autosport):
"There's less porpoising. One of the negative consequences that everyone's facing is that it's also a little bit more wind-sensitive. And it has been a bit windy here. So, there's going to be a little bit more inconsistency from the cars, but that's an issue that everyone has to tackle."
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Raised floors have also meant teams losing almost half a second in lap time, though many have already worked out how to claw back the loss in downforce.
When asked if his car had lost any downforce, Magnussen said:
"I know exactly what, but I can't obviously tell [you] that. Those rule changes put everyone back and then everyone's been putting downforce back on. Some people would have gained, so they have a lot more than they did last year. The rules were better for downforce last year, but I think everyone will have made a good step."
Kevin Magnussen sets target for Haas F1 ahead of new season
Kevin Magnussen is optimistic about Haas' chances heading into the 2023 F1 season.
The Dane and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg clocked decent lap times and collected loads of data for the team during the Bahrain pre-season test.
Speaking to the media later, Magnussen stated that if Haas could stay sixth or seventh in the constructors' standings, that would be a good result for the team.
He said:
"Last year we finished eighth. If we could be closer to the seventh [or] sixth best team from the beginning of the year, that would be great. But we have to remember where we came from and just focus on making progress and going forward.
"I never think that I can't go for points. I always have the mindset that I can, and I don't see any reason that we shouldn't aim for points from the testing we've had."
#HaasF1 showed very promising results during last season. I believe the team can be a real underdog of the 2023 season.
Nico Hülkenberg's comeback is great for Haas. It will be interesting to see if he can compete with Kevin Magnussen, who did really good job last season. https://t.co/iTkJ1nTPaH