Formula 1 will experience a gigantic regulation change for the 2022 campaign, which is why teams and drivers have begun to prepare for the season months in advance. We have already heard the opinions of Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris on the new single-seaters, and the last to comment on it was Charles Leclerc.
The seven-time Mercedes champion commented that testing in the simulator was pointless due to the rapid development of the car, while Gasly said that the drivers would have vision problems. Norris, for his part, expressed that the new single-seaters would be very different from the current ones, and that the driving style would change.
The Ferrari Monegasque said the 2022 cars will be heavier , and that will make the drive different in low-speed corners. Leclerc ‘s comments come after having been testing in the Maranello simulator, although they still need to close that third place in the constructors’ standings.
F1 has made this rule change to increase the number of overtaking events so that drivers can follow each other without losing downforce. The cars will be about 40 kilos heavier than the current ones, and in a sport where everything is measured to the gram and millimeter, it will be a big change.
Leclerc spoke to Motorsport.com about the 2022 Ferrari at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, stating that it “was getting better every time it went into the simulator”. He also expressed: “I feel good because it shows that we are going in the right direction, and I have better feelings, then we will see where we are compared to the others once we try all together.”
However, the Ferrari driver indicated that the increase in weight will be an important factor : “They are much heavier than this year’s, it is noticeable especially in the low speed corners. That will make us change the driving style for those turns, just because it’s a heavier car.
“At high speed, I would say it’s pretty similar and there’s not a big difference,” Charles Leclerc concluded.
This is something Pierre Gasly , who was in Faenza testing the 2022 AlphaTauri, also commented on: “Everything feels slightly worse, braking, corner entry and high and low speed. The car is heavier, so obviously , we will notice it and it will be about two seconds slower”.
Asked if they could make it a reality for the cars to be matched, he said: “I hope we get what we want, but I’m a little worried that it won’t. We’ll see next year, but still, I think the rivals are going to find more performance throughout the year, and until you put the car in Barcelona, you don’t know where you will be.
“At the moment, we are happy with our development, but it depends on what the rest have found. Whenever you open a new page, there is a lot of work, and we hope that we have taken the right one,” said the Frenchman.
