Max Verstappen: The new racecars can finally follow each other

If the new technical regulations in force this season have posed challenges for the teams, they also have some advantages. These famous rules aim to facilitate overtaking between cars and thus offer more action on the track.

After the initial tests in Barcelona, the drivers seemed quite satisfied with the modifications, although they didn’t really have the opportunity to closely follow each other. However, they were able to do so in Bahrain. And for the world champion Max Verstappen, the new cars are much easier to control in these situations.

« I think it’s better,” says Verstappen. « In any case, it’s better than last year. When we were behind someone, suddenly we encountered an understeer or a lot of oversteer problem. It was uncontrollable. Now, when I’m behind a car, I notice that I lose downforce, but it happens at the front and the back. It makes things much more predictable and possible to control for the drivers,” attests the Dutchman.

However, the increased weight of the 2022 cars makes them much less agile in slow corners, a phenomenon reported by some drivers. This doesn’t seem to bother Max Verstappen though.

« Of course, it also depends on the balance of the car,” he explains. « If you had a lot of oversteer or understeer last year, it was equally difficult. Driving any car to the limit is difficult, so I think it’s about the same. », Verstappen continues before giving his opinion on the behavior of the cars for the upcoming races. « It depends a bit on the circuits we will go to. These cars are slower in slow corners because they are much heavier.

“On circuits with many slow turns, it will be less fun for us to drive. But if we go on tracks with many fast turns, it’s really a very enjoyable car to drive,” Max Verstappen confides.