2022 - Race 8 Baku

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

As for the current rule changes, they are not a success while DRS is still needed.

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Rule changes were made to allow closer following. Last year whenever somebody tried to pull up behind somebody they immediately started losing down force and degrading their tires because of the turbulent airflow behind the cars. Max able to stay on Charles tail lap after lap showed the difference.

You would have not seen that last year. Last year you either attacked and go around your opponent or dropped back into the clear air. Otherwise you tires would quickly degrade and you would lose any ability to attack.

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As for the current rule changes, they are not a success while DRS is still needed. In fact, it looks harder to overtake now without DRS than it used to be because the cars have less drag. Being able to follow close is no use if you've no drag to get you by.

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Physics says that if you have two equal cars, then there has to be a differentiator that will allow another car to have delta performance to pass. That comes from either tire strategy, driver/team strategy or DRS.

I do think the FIA is struggling to find the balance to DRS so it is powerful enough for good racing versus it being an automatic pass.

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

RBR aren't owed a thing by the sport. The pit stops were a genuine safety concern and absolutely had to be done. And you'll notice far less balls up in pit stops since they came in.

On the other hand, Mercedes were robbed point blank in Abu Dhabi of a drivers championship last year and after years of investing in engine qualifying mode they were told mid season they could not use it anymore and there were zero safety concerns with it. It was nothing other than a blatant attempt to real in a team that had done a better job. Yes, Renault is owed one by the sport. The mass damper ban mid season was ridiculous. I think Mercedes are definitely owed one. Even the wind tunnel rules were designed to hurt them more than others.

As for the current rule changes, they are not a success while DRS is still needed. In fact, it looks harder to overtake now without DRS than it used to be because the cars have less drag. Being able to follow close is no use if you've no drag to get you by.

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Ahhh... only certain teams have been targets of rules changes, and it really comes down to the WDC.

Merc got the exact same wind tunnel time as RB did last year. Honda joined Mercedes in trying to push back against the engine mode requirements changes.

Though I often don't agree with the mid season changes especially, sometimes clarification of gray areas is needed. They always help certain teams more than others, and usually it's the lesser teams that have more to gain. As long as racing is taking place, there will be changes based on events or freak accidents. It's not going to change any time soon most likely, so I just roll with it.



As for the new regs, we'll just have to disagree. I think they have made it possible to attack much better, but at the same time not made passing easy. To me the DRS fly by passes that required little to no skill were boring. Though they still happen at times, much less frequent overall. The cars are running closer, not toasting their tires when they go to attack or follow closely, and seem to be a little harder to set up for any given track.

Regs changes pretty much always slow the cars down, and these changes are no exception. But as with past changes, they will just claw the time back as they come to grips with the cars.

At least we don't have stupid grooved tires any more .

But , we do still have DRS .
And , we still have tire warmers .


It's perhaps a little early to call this formula a failure , though , Mr. Knight .