The new Formula 1 cars of 2022, which are supposed to offer better racing and should make overtaking easier by reducing the number of aerodynamic parts, were highly anticipated.
The new regulations were created by the category’s own technical team, under the direction of Ross Brawn and Pat Symonds . The latter revealed in an interview with Sky Sports F1 that, apart from the Bahrain tests, the first indications are that the cars can follow each other more easily, and several drivers had already confirmed this during the Barcelona tests.
“Alex Albon gave me the most interesting answer,” says the Formula 1 technical director. “He told me he had to adapt because he couldn’t believe how close he could get.”
In these statements, Symonds confirms that he has made the appropriate changes with his technical group. However, he is somewhat cautious, as pre-season testing is not a real yardstick: “When you do a test, you try not to get too close to the other cars and you prefer to drive yourself.”
Symonds also remains calm when asked if the new cars will allow for more cornering duels , saying he has focused more on how the aerodynamics behave when driving behind another driver.
To this end, the Formula 1 technical team made some interesting observations about the collision between Hamilton and Verstappen at Silverstone: “When we analyzed it, we were surprised by the amount of downforce that cars lose when they go wheel to wheel.”
“I still think we have made a fundamental change, a breakthrough,” adds the manager. “We should welcome that and see what we have.”
Pat Symonds also admits that the slipstream effect of the new cars is less, a fact that some drivers have already confirmed. However, the fact that they can follow each other makes up for it: “You can’t have everything. Unfortunately, in Formula 1 we also have to obey the laws of physics, which I find very annoying sometimes.”
In addition, he hopes that overtaking maneuvers will continue to take place on the straights supported by DRS : “My dream is to use DRS at some point just to overtake lapped cars, rather than in the fight for position.”
In addition, he said, his team has also taken into account the wishes of the fans : “We do not limit ourselves to doing technical things, but we also investigate what the spectators really want.”
In doing so, they came to the conclusion that the spectacle does not come from pure overtaking, but from duels: “Overtaking usually means the end of a battle. So the idea is to allow the cars to get behind so that ” let’s see a good challenge to master an overtaking manoeuvre”.
