The problem considered in this paper is the design of a control system for semi-active suspension fully oriented to the handling objective. For better understanding the handling behavior of a suspension, the paper proposes a model of interaction between the suspension dynamics and the tire-road forces. On this basis an analysis focused on the evaluation metrics for handling performances is presented. The analysis highlights that not only the minimization of the overall tire deflection variations may improve the handling properties but also the shape of those variations has influence on them. The rest of the paper is devoted to the study of handling optimal performances based on optimal predictive control with road preview. The final contribution is a new algorithm for handling maximization which provides a great improvement compared to common passive suspension and to classical semiactive control such as Groundhook algorithm.