British F1 stars George Russell and Lando Norris have both hit out at the new regulations which have seemingly made overtaking more difficult ahead of the upcoming 2022 season.
The pinnacle of motorsport is set to enter a new era of regulations, which were originally intended for the 2021 season but were delayed a year due to Covid.
These regulations are aimed at reducing ‘following car distance’ by removing ‘dirty air’ that leading cars leave in their wake, making overtaking moves more difficult due to the turbulent air flow.
Cars will differ quite substantially from their predecessors despite power units essentially being unchanged, as sidepods, airboxes, brake ducts, underbodies and both front and rear wings are set to be redesigned. The addition of 18-inch wheels will also massively affect the cars, both visually and technically.
The changes were meant to allow cars to follow each other more closely, which should have seen more overtakes. However, Russell and Norris - at Mercedes and McLaren respectively - both admitted they struggled to overtake, even if following had improved.
Russell revealed he had difficulty trying to get past Norris during pre-season testing in Barcelona.
“I think following has been improved but the slipstream effect has been reduced quite substantially, so I don’t really know,” Russell told reporters. “We can follow closer but from what we have seen, the slipstream effect is definitely less effective. We will have to wait and see.
“I got right up behind Lando, I was a car’s length or two behind him and didn’t catch the straight so that was slightly concerning. Let’s see.”
Norris echoed Russell’s sentiment and even admitted he purposely held up the 24-year-old to see if he could pass him on the straight.
“Me and George had a perfect demonstration of it,” Norris said. “I didn’t want to let him past while he was on a quick lap, so I screwed him over and held him up a bit. That’s what you do in testing.
“We can follow closer but then the slipstream is worse, so a positive and a negative from it. We don’t know which is the bigger effect at the minute, so we will have to see until the first race.”
Norris impressed as he topped the timesheets after the first day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, while Russell claimed Mercedes were behind McLaren heading into the season. The Silver Arrows new boy believes the German manufacturers have plenty of work to do before the start of the new season as they eye a ninth straight Constructors’ Championship.
More testing will be held in Bahrain from March 10-12, where drivers will have the chance to try their challengers for the new campaign. The 22-race 2022 campaign - which was set to be a record 23 races before the cancellation of the Russian Grand Prix - begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20.
