Norris uncertain about impact of new 2022 technical rules

©McLaren

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.

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"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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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.