Lando Norris Has Been Struggling With Back Issues From F1’s Current Cars

Posted on September 2, 2023 | by Charley Williams Whilst we’ve seen much less porpoising throughout the 2023 F1 season than last year, McLaren driver Lando Norris has revealed he has still been struggling with many issues regarding his back since the new regulations came into effect at the start of 2022.  F1 switched to run more ground effect cars from the 2022 season, and with them being lower to the ground, they are much stiffer than past generations of cars. The new era of cars has also made it so drivers cannot attack kerbs as they did previously without causing damage or unsettling the car entirely. Though porpoising seems to be a thing of the past, it caused many drivers to complain about back problems, with Carlos Sainz often expressing his concern for safety and the “long-term effects” of experiencing this kind of bouncing. It even got to a point where we saw Lewis Hamilton struggle to climb out of his car at last year’s Azerbaijan GP. Even now, drivers still complain about “bouncing” at certain tracks. Discussing whether F1 should aim to design a ‘softer’ car again for 2026 ahead of the Italian GP, Lando said: “I mean, I would love it. “I wouldn’t say no, if we could have softer cars or something that makes it a bit more like it was in ’19, ’20, ‘21. I’ve struggled a lot with my back. I’ve had to make quite a few seats and do a lot more training just to try and strengthen my back, my lower back. “I’ve had a lot of issues over the last 12 months or so. Similar to Carlos [Sainz]. I guess everyone’s had different things and struggles with different bits, and cars are different and whatever. But yeah, for different reasons, including the car and how stiff it is. I’ve struggled quite a bit.” Alongside him in the press conference was Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas, who admitted, whilst they haven’t really suffered from this new era of car, the stiffness limits them in races when wanting to get out of dirty air. Is this a safety concern that could be grounds for change in 2026?