Having already warned of the safety implications of porpoising, George Russell believes another effect of the rules overhaul is a reduced ability to slipstream rivals.

While a number of drivers report that it is now easier to follow a rival closely, thereby allowing the potential to overtake, the Mercedes driver admits that he encountered an issue when attempting to slipstream another car.

"I think the following has been improved," says the Briton, "but the slipstream effect has been reduced quite substantially.

"You obviously need that delta on the straights to overtake because you can only overtake at the end of a straight and into a corner," he adds. "We can follow closer but from what we have seen, the slipstream effect is definitely less effective.

"I got right up behind Lando, I was a car-length or two behind him and didn't catch him on the straight," reveals the Mercedes driver, "so that was slightly concerning so let's see."

"We can follow closer but then the slipstream is worse," agrees Norris, "so a positive and a negative from it.

"We don't know which is the bigger effect at the minute so we will have to see until the first race."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by elsiebc, 28/02/2022 17:23

"Ah, the reality of unintended consequences when you try to micro manage. That's okay. Just micro manage more."

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2. Posted by MossMan, 28/02/2022 16:41

"Not exactly surprising - the rule change is supposed to result in less disturbed air behind the car. That means not only less turbulence as you come up to the car in front ("dirty air") but also a smaller pocket of still air immediately behind the car (the "slipstream" zone).

A big rear wing means big downforce generating a big rooster tail, creating a big pocket for slipstreaming and big turbulence in its wake - all these effects are aspects of the same thing. The whole idea is to reduce all of that and substitute some ground-effect instead."

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Slipstreaming impacted by new rules, warns Russell

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