26/02/2022
NEWS STORY
Carlos Sainz' first impressions of the new rules are that they are going to make a difference in terms of following rival's cars more closely, teammate Charles Leclerc doesn't entirely agree.
Getting around the impact of dirty air and allow drivers to follow rivals closely without losing downforce, thereby setting up the prospect of an overtake, has been one of the cornerstones of the new regulations, the sport's stakeholders and fans alike tired of seeing a driver hunt down his prey only to then opt to hold station as he is forced to manages his temperatures and tyres.
And while Ross Brawn and his team may have overlooked the porpoising factor, the first signs are that dirty air isn't going to be such a problem this year.
Over the last three days we've witnessed numerous examples of drivers following rivals to test the impact of the rules overhaul, to see if they can shadow a rival without losing downforce, and as far as Carlo Sainz is concerned there's a definite improvement.
I did that on purpose obviously," said the Spaniard of his own 'experiments', "I can tell you I already felt some differences.
"It is pretty obvious already," he added. "I'm relatively positive about it, I'm optimistic that it's going in the right direction."
Unfortunately, teammate Charles Leclerc doesn't agree.
Like his teammate, and many others, he experimented. However, while he agrees that the new rules allow a driver to close in on a rival the closer you get the less effective they become.
"It is quite interesting," he said, "because from three seconds to one second behind the car in front, you actually can follow closer. But then from one second to five tenths I will say it's similar to the feeling I had last year.
"Then from five tenths to extremely close, then this is much better than last year," he added.
"It is nice, it's interesting," he continued. "I mean, I'll have to do a few more laps behind a car, but it's looking good for now."
"I've been following a few cars," said Max Verstappen, "and it seems like it's a little bit easier to stay behind. At least you don't have this weird loss of downforce where suddenly you have a lot of understeer or massive oversteer.
"I don't expect it to be fully gone and that you can follow on the rear diffuser, because of the speeds we're still doing, but it all seems a bit more under control. The cars are fine."
Check out our testing galleries here.