Leclerc: Porpoising ‘not pleasant’, but Ferrari still fast

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s ‘porpoising’ that was palpable in free practice for the Australian Grand Prix affects comfort more than performance.

Ferrari have not been the team most readily associated with the bouncing effect in the new Formula 1 cars, at least since the unofficial test in Barcelona – that label instead having been attached to Mercedes.

But it was very evident with the F1-75 during FP2 at Albert Park, although no impact was made on the timesheets because Leclerc emulated what his team-mate Carlos Sainz had done in the earlier session by going fastest.

The Monegasque 24-year-old had almost a quarter of a second in hand of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who narrowly denied him a second straight win at the start of this season in Saudi Arabia last time out.

Guess the name

Stoked to meet the Aussie crowds again #essereFerrari #F1 #AusGP @Charles_Leclerc pic.twitter.com/mjBYtlbXfI

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 8, 2022

Asked during an interview with F1 TV whether the ‘porpoising’ had been down to having more fuel in the car while long-run sims were being carried out in FP2, Leclerc said: “I don’t think it’s fuel-related, I think it’s more track-dependent.

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“In Bahrain we had it a little bit, in