Scuderia Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies admitted that he wants to see the new regulations reviewed in 2023, in order to evaluate if teams can “make a difference” regarding the design of the car. The new rules and regulation which are introduced this season have been designed in a stricter way, that restricts the amount of leeway teams have to experiment with the cars they create.
Formula 1 managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn confirmed that these regulations initially led to some “moans and groans” from the teams, before they understood that there is still room to innovate and Formula 1 will continue to reword meritocracy, which means that the competitor designing the fastest car will still have the best chance of winning.
However, Laurent Mekies feels the new framework will need checking after its first season running in Formula 1, in order to make sure it is working correctly and giving teams the possibility to improve and reduce the gap to their rivals.
“There is definitely a lot less freedom,” – the Scuderia Ferrari racing director said, as reported by Motorsport-Total. “We are all excited because it will be very different to this year. How much the cars will differ from each other? That remains to be seen. I think the first time we will see enough differences to satisfy us all. But at the beginning of 2023, we should look closely to see if there is still enough differentiation and room for the teams to make a difference.” – he added.
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Many drivers talked about the driving style changes they will need to make in order to get the most out of their new cars, given the fact that the major changes to ground effect aerodynamics means the downforce is generated in a totally different way to the previous generation.
Scuderia Ferrari have a brand new state-of-the-art simulator to use in the run-up to the season, which should allow Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to get ready for the first pre-season testing session at the Circuit de Catalunya. However, once they hit the track, Laurent Mekies believes it will be “interesting” to see which drivers will be able to adapt to the new cars in the best way possible and he expects some of them to take time to get used to the changes made.
“The balance is more difficult, the difference between high and low speed is more difficult. So I think it will be more difficult for them at the beginning. It will be interesting to see how this will affect the drivers’ performance. We’ve seen in the past where drivers have done very well with one set of regulations and struggled more with another or the tyres.” – Laurent Mekies concluded.
Scuderia Ferrari announced a few days ago that they will be presenting the new car on Thursday 17 February, with just a week ahead of the first pre-season test in Barcelona.
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