Verstappen: Teams that got regs wrong will continue to play catch up

Max Verstappen says that a year on from Formula 1's regulations overhaul, those teams that got the rules wrong in 2022 will likely still be playing catch-up this season.

Red Bull and Ferrari's new-generation cars enjoyed a clear lead over their rivals at the start of last year's campaign, while Mercedes' ground-effect W13 was crippled by chronic porpoising issues.

The aerodynamic phenomenon was a wide-spread problem up and down the field, but impacted the Brackley squad more severely although Mercedes' engineers eventually succeeded in mitigating the issue over the summer.

However, despite each teams' progress in exploiting the regs, Verstappen suggests that last year's laggards will still be at a disadvantage in 2023.

"You see this when the regulations change and some teams hit it spot on," Verstappen told Viaplay.

"Once you hit it spot on and you know what you are doing, you more or less work from there and you make small steps.

"But when you get it wrong, you really have to reinvent and try again and you're always behind and then you have to try and catch up."

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F1's two-time world champion pointed to his own team's past difficulties as a case study on the matter.

"You saw that with us in that it took a few years [to challenge Mercedes]," added the Dutchman.

"We didn't have a good engine but once we had that sorted out, we worked on the car and once you bring all that together, you are finally more or less there, but it took us a few years.

"Maybe with these regulations, it is less complex but you are still on the backfoot and you need to catch up.

"But while they tried to catch up, we're also trying to improve, so that's what we have to try and keep doing and hopefully show that again [in 2023]."

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