Following Sunday’s surprisingly uneventful Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, several drivers have complained that the cars have become more difficult to follow compared to last season, with Carlos Sainz having gone as far as stating that the new regs are becoming “a bit like the old cars”.
The new aerodynamic regulations were introduced in 2022 in a bid to allow drivers to follow each other more easily, something which was largely impossible in the previous era of the sport.
In the previous era, drivers commonly were forced to back-off if they were unable to force an overtake, due to the dirty air having hurt their tyres.
This was seen considerably less last year, with 2022 having seen more overtakes than any other season of the pinnacle of motorsport.
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As the new regs have started to develop, though, it appears that the sport is starting to return to its former ways, with little action having been seen at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Max Verstappen was really the only driver to pull-off a considerable number of overtakes; however, this was largely due to the RB19’s supremacy.
Sainz complained after the race about how challenging it was in “dirty air”, with it having been not “that easy to pass”.
“These cars in dirty air have got a bit worse compared to last year, probably adding downforce and the new regs,” Sainz told Sky Sports.
“They are starting to become a bit like the old cars where the dirty air is becoming a limitation, and today it wasn’t that easy to pass.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris was another driver who complained about how challenging it was to follow another car, with the Briton having revealed that the Woking-based team “can’t follow very well”.
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“[Our car is] a bit worse in the race than I would say we were hoping for. We can’t follow very well, we struggled in the dirty air too much,” said Norris to media, including RacingNews365.com.
Rookie Logan Sargeant was another to complain but he’s unsure whether his difficulties were due to having “pushed a bit too hard”.
“I was relatively competitive after the Safety Car fighting with Hulkenberg. But maybe just pushed a bit too hard in the dirty air and hurt my tyres too early,” said Sargeant.