Albon: Following cars more closely 'a nice surprise'

Alex Albon says that Formula 1's new regulations are fulfilling their purpose, with the Williams driver "nicely surprised" by his car's ability to follow another through corners more closely.

Grand Prix racing's new regulations were devised to reduce the volume and flow of dirty air swirling in the wake of a car disrupts the downforce levels of a following machine, which in turn hampers the latter's ability to follow closely through corners and reduces overtaking opportunities.

In Barcelona last week, most drivers were happy to report that F1's new ground effect designs appeared to allow for closer following, with cars much more stable while running in the wake of another machine.

"How well we can follow – that’s been pretty surprising," said Albon, quoted by Motorsportweek and who was among those that gave F1's new rules a thumbs up after the first leg of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

"It’s a nice surprise and it’s something which takes a bit of getting used to because the effect of following is… as you gain almost a memory from what you can and can’t do when you’re a certain distance from a car, how to back off, you learn the limits of following and that’s being recalibrated a little bit.

"I haven’t spent many laps behind other cars, but you can tell it’s improved greatly and that’s great for the sport. Hopefully, it will translate well."

• Read also: Russell concerned by 'substantially reduced' slipstream effect of 2022 cars

However, while F1's new designs allow for closer running in the corners, the new aero concept also appears to have impacted a driver's ability to slipstream down the straights.

Mercedes' George Russell was the first to report the peculiarity after following Lando Norris down Barcelona's main straight without being able to overtake the McLaren driver's car.

"I think the following has been improved but the slipstream effect has been reduced quite substantially," explained Russell last week.

"You obviously need that delta in the straights to overtake because you can only overtake at the end of a straight and into a corner."

Albon echoed Russell's comments on slipstreaming.

"We will see how it is with overtaking down the straights because my initial feeling is the tow effect might be a little bit less but we will have to see," said the Anglo-Thai racer.

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