Low-drag tracks are now a concern, Stella says in defense of F1 regulations

Andrea Stella, has described how the new ground effects regulations in Formula 1 may accidentally limit overtaking opportunities at low-drag courses like Monza.
Stella

(Motorsports news) The design regulations was revised for 2022 to shift to ground effects and away from intricate top surfaces in an effort to lessen the amount of foul air produced and let vehicles to follow one another more closely. Aerodynamic advancement this year has reportedly made it difficult to chase into bends once more, but it is generally agreed that the rethink has been successful.

The FIA’s decision to shorten the DRS zones in the early races, together with Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s dominance, have garnered criticism for the races’ lack of excitement. Stella, however, claims that this does not demonstrate the ground-effects switch’s limitations, but rather straight-line constraints that are more common at low-drag tracks like Jeddah, Spa, and Monza.

The Italian engineer Andrea Stella defended his position by saying, “I wouldn’t discuss the regulations’ restrictions. “With the predicted 30% reduction in air pollution, I believe what we already noticed with this new generation of automobiles last year is that it’s clearly easier to follow in the corners. Therefore, several routes were passing was very challenging, like Hungary for example, are now routes where you can follow.

“In the corner complex where you have the corners, once you can come out of the last corner, you are actually close to the car in front, and you can then attack owing to the DRS. “So, I would say that the new generation of cars has greatly aided this aspect of racing.” Stella reasoned that because ground-effect vehicles are now creating a cleaner air void, the slipstream’s effectiveness has been significantly diminished, making overtaking in a straight line more challenging.

“Instead, I think with this generation of cars you have less, let me call it suction from the car ahead, in configurations like Spa or Monza where you need to have a lot of towing effect to overtake,” Stella continued. Accordingly, it may have gotten a little harder on this type of circuit. The two faces of the same medal are shown here, if that makes sense. The fact that we can follow cars more readily than with the previous generation of cars, however, is something I would welcome.

Also read: Verstappen plans to launch his own GT3 squad in 2025

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