An own goal by the FIA? Have the new floor rules made the racing in F1 worse?
The start of F1 2023 has been mostly dull - even if you forget that Red Bull haveဣ dominated both races.
Looking back to 12 months ag🎃o, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were full of great overtakes and wheel-to-wheel action, with the new regulations receiving plenty of plauꦑdits.
With the regulations no longer immature, it seems that as teams impro⭕ve their 🎉cars, the racing has steadily gotten worse.
Speaking after the rac𓄧e in Jeddah, Sainz - who finished sixth - explained how he felt that running behind another car was more difficult compared to last year.
“I probably paid the price during the first stint with the tyres because I did want to pass him [Stroll], but in the end I paid the price,” Sainz said after the ra𒁏ce in Jeddah.
“These cars in dirty airꦑ have got a bit worse compared to last year, probably adding downforce and th𝓰e new regs.
“They are starting to become a bit like the old cars where the dirty air is becoming a limitation, and today it wasn’t that easy to pass – but in gene🥀ral, I don’t think it would have changed much the end result.”
The reason for this?
A potential explanation has been put forward by German publication AMuS.
They explained that teams are putting more “♐outwash elements” on their cars to increase the downforce their cars produce.
Teams have been forced to do this after the implementation of TD-39 - the regulation that stipulates th♏at all cars must run with a minimum 15mm ride height.
The technical directive was introduced on safety grounds - or more cynically, affecte🔯d Red Bull.
It could have ဣhad an unintended consequence with cars not being able﷽ to follow each other as closely as result.
Given that the FIA can only intervene for safety reasons, it’s unlikely there w🌊ill be any drastic changes unt𓄧il 2024 meaning F1 could be set for a boring season.
With a sꦿharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is t🤡he heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
