Formula 1’s new technical era will begin this weekend in Bahrain following a change to rules that were designed to reduce dirty air and make overtaking easier.
So far, the drivers have made very positive comments about it, acknowledging that it is now easier to keep a close eye on other cars on the track.
During the final day of testing in Bahrain , AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly spent the occasional lap battling seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, giving both of them a chance to see how racing has changed near others with these cars.
Gasly acknowledged that he did not expect to be able to fight Hamilton in such a way, saying that this fight showed that the changes seem to have worked.
“I was very surprised to fight with Lewis for several laps, it was fun,” said Gasly. “It was also interesting to follow another car closely just to get some data and see what it feels like to follow other cars now.”
“I think clearly the feeling has improved compared to last year, which makes me very optimistic about the races we will see this season.”
On the other side of the fight, Hamilton and Mercedes reportedly struggled at the second pre-season test in Bahrain despite bringing a major upgrade to the W13. The Briton went so far as to say that he doubted that Mercedes could fight for victories at the start of 2022.
“You could see Lewis was struggling as well,” Gasly said. “It seems that they also have work to do to get to the top.”
“All in all, it was some interesting laps. Quite a fun fight and yes I think this should make all the races very exciting for the fans,” concluded AlphaTauri ‘s.
For his part, Hamilton agreed that with the new ground-effect single-seaters it is now easier to keep up with other cars.
“The most positive, so far, is that being behind another car feels a lot better, which I think is the right direction. But hopefully we can have better tires at some point, or maybe they work better on other circuits where I don’t so hot.”
“But yeah, I’m sure the car will progress through the year and we’ll get to a better position compared to where we think we are right now,” said the Mercedes driver.
