F1 teams' preparations for the new 2022 car have entered the sprint stage, and many drivers have already obtained some data and driving experience through the racing simulator.
Nico Hockenberg said that based on his preliminary results from the simulator, the 2022 car under the new F1 rules will not be much slower or much different from the 21 car, and it is not certain whether the "dirty air" problem will be solved.
F1's new technology rules in 2022 aim to change the current difficult situation of following the car through more simplified aerodynamics, around the ground effect, so that the race has more exciting overtaking.
Hockenberg explains: "The goal of F1 is to make the car a little slower, more challenging to drive, and to focus more on what the driver is driving than on the performance and aerodynamics of the car. ”
"However, after my initial experience (of racing simulators), it can be said that the new cars of 2022 are very fast and not necessarily slower than the previous generation. The driving experience hasn't changed much either, at least in the simulator. ”
"It will be very interesting to see if the new car can better keep up with the car in front of it. In the simulator, the car's cornering speed is very fast, so the risk of creating "dirty air" is still there, and it's hard for me to imagine how easy it is to follow the car in front of me in such a situation. ”
"But anyway, I hope we'll be pleasantly surprised. Once pre-season testing begins, drivers and teams will discover how the car really performs on the track. ”
Hockenborg believes that the new F1 rules are a huge learning curve for all participants, and although he believes it is too early to predict, he expects the leading teams in the past to continue their strong performance.
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