In response to the bouncing sensation experienced by many teams last season upon the return of ground-effect regulations, the FIA changed the technical rulebook for 2023.
A key alteration was the mandated 15mm raising of the floor edges, which was conceived to stop teams from running cars so close to the ground to create the porpoising problem.
The governing body’s single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis reckoned the aerodynamics losses that resulted would “correspond to about half a second” per lap.
However, given the infancy of the new regulations and the cost-cap that deterred some teams’ late-season upgrades, the winter rate of development has been pronounced.
As such, new McLaren team principal Andrea Stella reckons all 10 outfits had recovered the 0.5s lap time losses even before the opening round of the new season in Bahrain.
Source: Autosport