Vettel slams constantly changing aero regulations as “comical” with fresh changes planned for 2019

Sebastian Vettel has described F1’s ever-changing stance on aerodynamic rules as “comical”.

The German made the comments after rule-makers pushed through a series of changes to simplify front wings for next year and trim downforce to try and aid overtaking.

The 2017 rules were designed to make cars faster again after a period of gradually decreasing speed following rules to trim downforce from 2009 onwards.

“I find it a bit comical,” said Vettel when asked of his opinion on the changes. “In 2009 we went ‘Let’s go less aerodynamic and better racing’ and so on. I think it didn’t change too much. Then we said ‘The cars are too slow, let’s put more aerodynamics and make them wider, more spectacular’. And now we want to make them slower again.

“It’s a bit like cruising to America and changing direction 100 times! I think you should ask us what we need to overtake. Not to say we know everything, we don’t know anything about engineering a car, but we know how they feel, how to drive them and their limitations to overtake. But we’re not really asked.”

Lewis Hamilton, whose pole time was three seconds faster than last year’s, said: “We want to push the boundaries. One of the exciting things this year has been breaking records. It’s incredible the technology we have and what we’re doing with it. We should be as fast as we are, but just make the racing better.”