Perez: New F1 rules should focus on racing, not speed

Sergio Perez has become the latest driver to question 2017’s planned rule changes, with the Force India racer fearing that too much emphasis on making F1 cars faster will be detrimental to the racing itself.

The FIA released more details about next year’s aerodynamic regulations in late February, which will see the introduction of wider cars that could lap up to five seconds quicker than at present.

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton already hit out at the changes, stating they “will not deliver better racing”. Perez chimes in and explains that having more speed will not result in more action on track.

“All the rule changes we are making is to try and make the race more unpredictable and more overtaking but I feel we are going in the wrong direction because [they] want to have a faster car,” the Mexican told reporters ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

“These days, you cannot follow. So if you go quicker and you rely more on downforce and aero, it’s going to make it even harder to follow. I’m not quite sure we’re going in the right direction for what media, fans and drivers want.

“If we can improve the mechanical grip, then definitely that should help. I don’t think we have to go five or 10 seconds quicker to do the race any better. It’s not about the speed, it’s about how we can interact, how close the cars can be. That is the important bit.”

Perez also refutes the idea that current F1 cars are not fast enough and adds that tyre compounds play a major role in the perceived lack of overtaking

“In my opinion I don’t think the car itself is slow, I think the races and qualifying sometimes is slow due to the tyres more than the cars. During the races you cannot really follow because you degrade your tyres massively.

“So there are many things that probably we need to consider more rather than ‘We need Formula One to be five seconds faster and it will be a great show’. I don’t think it’s going to be the case so we definitely need to think about the show a bit more, how we can put more cars interacting together at the same time.”

F1 bosses have until April 30 to finalise F1’s 2017 technical and sporting regulations after the initial deadline was extended following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on March 4.

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