McLaren driver Lando Norris admits he's not sure whether the new technical rules coming into effect in 2022 will necessarily have the desired effect of making the on-track racing more exciting than it was in last year.
The new regulations are designed to reduce turbulence from 'dirty air' and make it easier for drivers to follow and overtake the car ahead, and includes the reintroduction of 'ground effect' to increase downforce.
But speaking to the media at McLaren's launch event for the new MCL36 on Friday, Norris pondered whether more overtaking would actually improve the racing spectacle.
"A lot of great battles we saw last year were because of the difficulty to overtake," Norris pointed out with reference to a crucial moment in last year's Hungarian Grand Prix involving Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
"[For ten laps] Hamilton couldn’t get past Alonso because it was so difficult to follow, and everyone thought that was one of the best battles of the season.
"Maybe this year you might get past in two laps so you won’t see that side of it, you won’t see as good a battle.
"[But] it could go the other way," he acknowledged. "There were not many battles because as soon as you get two seconds behind someone, you lose downforce and you can't do anything."
©McLaren
Norris also suggested that the return of 'ground effect' could mean the end of some exciting moments with cars clipping the kerbs s they fought for position.
"To make a ground effect car work, you have to run it as close to the ground as possible," he pointed out. "[So] the kerbs won’t be as nice to use.
"The way you might have to drive some tracks, like street circuits, is going to be quite different as well," he said. "It might not be as nice to drive those kinds of circuits.
"We'll have to wait and see," he predicted
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