16/09/2022
NEWS STORY
Whether fans are convinced the 2022 rule changes have worked only they can know, but the likes of Mercedes Andy Shovlin are not entirely convinced.
Despite the massive rules overhaul introduced this year, the changes haven't really caused any seismic changes to the order… which no doubt explains why Stefano Domenicali is still pondering gimmicks such as revers grids.
Granted, Red Bull is running away with both titles, but 2021 showed us that Mercedes was already under pressure.
While cars are able to follow more closely this year, the problem in terms of overtaking remains, and as a consequence all too often we have witnessed those infamous DRS trains.
Indeed, with many still regarding DRS as a gimmick, there have been races this year where it presented the only real means of making a successful pass.
Then there is the whole question of porpoising and bouncing, which continues to affect some teams more than others.
Whether fans are convinced the changes have worked only they can know, but the likes of Mercedes Andy Shovlin are not entirely convinced.
"Following is a little bit easier," he admits. "There's some circuits where, historically, you had very little overtaking, like Budapest. And the race there was a bit more interesting.
"You've also got the effect that, when you bring in new rules, and when they're completely new, like this set, it does sort of reset the competitive order," he adds. "We haven't quite got the close racing now: it looks like Red Bull have emerged as a clear front- runner.
"So, the races are a bit more predictable than they were, perhaps at the back end of last year. But it's a small step in the right direction and an awful lot of change to get there.
"Maybe the big one that we'd hoped for, that I don't think we've seen, is the field closing up," he says. "You know, it's still a broadly similar order of teams front to back."
"You don't think in this way in our world," says Red Bull's technical director, Pierre Wache. "We try to optimise and maximise the performance of what perimeter you have, I will say.
"In terms of spectacle, do you see a better race? For us? It looks a little bit better than last year in terms of performance, relative to the others.
"These are challenging rules. I think, at the moment, it looks better than what I expected, to be honest, in terms of following it as a car and after recording that, the rest is a relative."
"As engineers, our job is to take a set of rules and try to make the car as fast as we can do within those rules," says Williams Tom McCullough. "The rules have posed some bigger challenges than we all expected, especially at the start of the year.
"It's been a fascinating year, it's been a very interesting year. You learn more when you have problems, you know, and, for sure, at the start of the year, a lot of teams up and down the pit lane, their cars didn't perform as per their simulation tools, ourselves included in that, so it's been really interesting from a technical perspective."