A mixed first impression

Lightning fast in the quick bits, more cumbersome in the slow stuff, the new Formula 1 generation leaves our man with a jumble of feelings on first contact

“The porpoising effect is almost comical. The first challenge of F1’s new era is under way”

The 2021 Formula 1 season finale feels like a long time ago, but Autosport makes it a key task at last week’s Barcelona test to discover exactly how the championship’s new era visually stacks up against the last and what we witnessed first-hand in Abu Dhabi. So, on the first morning of the three-day event, we head out into the sunshine for a wander around the track’s opening sector.

But our first key takeaway is delivered to our ears, not our eyes. As Charles Leclerc shoots by down the pitstraight in the Ferrari SF-75, the car sounds surprisingly different. With additional and bigger bodywork for 2022 compared to the ultra-high-downforce cars of 2017-21, there’s just more carbonfibre hitting the air. This creates a satisfying‘swasshhhhing’sound that wasn’t there before. Thanks to the quieter V6 engine sound (not that this is 2014 and that tedious debate all over again!), you can hear the air noise crescendo before the Turn 1 braking zone.

Mercedes’new signing George Russell follows Leclerc through here a few moments later, and hits the brakes at the same spot compared to where the cars were braking for last year’s Spanish Grand Prix – 50m before the corner. It had been thought that the new cars would require bigger braking zones, which in turn would aid overtaking – a key aim of the regulations. It is later confirmed that the drivers are braking at essentially the same points all around Barcelona, but the early indications on whether F1’s overtaking problem has been solved are confusing. Max Verstappen notes that now“you don’t have this weird loss of downforce, where suddenly you have a lot of understeer or massive oversteer”within two seconds of a car in front, but it is also suggested that this is still occurring somewhat at the onesecond mark. The bigger problem, as later noted by Russell, is that the slipstream effect has apparently“been reduced quite substantially”– he can’t make progress against Lando Norris even while a few car lengths behind during a run on day three.

Back to our trackside wandering, and this has reached the famous long right of Turn 3, where Verstappen is just pounding around each time and looking quietly unruffled. The corner is far less of challenge in modern F1, and the ground-effect cars appear to be on rails every lap. But next up at the Turn 4 long right-hander, we’re treated to a visual demonstration of a new driving challenge from the new formula. As at Turns 1 and 2, plus the Turn 3 turn-in, ground-effect cars are faster in the higherspeed stuff compared to what came before. Then, in the slower corners, they are correspondingly sluggish. Turn 4 demonstrates this well. The cars are much more of a handful here – and, overall, they look much closer to the Formula 2 machinery the F1 feeder series has run since 2018.

The Alpine looks the most difficult to drive during our stay behind the Turn 4 entry point, on the track’s outside. Fernando Alonso is hustling the A522 through both parts that make up the double-turn-in corner. One lap he slides wide luridly, then on another he’s having to correct the car both times he turns the wheel. Once we wander further around, we see that this means the Alpine is hesitant accelerating out of the first part in a way its rivals are not. The Alphatauri is more stable overall, but

Yuki Tsunoda is still having to calm a wiggle on the exit – oversteer is picking up as the power comes down. The Mercedes and Red Bull are very steady and consistent, as is the Ferrari.

And like we did on many occasions in 2020 and 2021, we marvel at just how quickly the blue and (now) silver machines can rotate their front ends on turn-in.

Later in the test, towards the end of day three’s first session, we leave the paddock again to visit the track’s final corners.

Four red flags mean the late performance runs are interrupted, but it’s striking how Sebastian Vettel is wrestling the Aston Martin (before it catches fire) out of the second part of the slow chicane, while Russell, Verstappen and Leclerc are simply flicking their machines through. In the afternoon, with race simulations unfolding for many teams, we note how cumbersome and lethargic the cars are with presumably much fuller tanks – much more so than last year.

Of the new parts that don’t concern ground effect, the wheel covers pop in aesthetically pleasing ways on the Alpine, Mclaren and Red Bull, while on all the machines spotting the driver numbers from trackside remains just as much of a challenge as it did on the old ones. For us, Ferrari wins the livery stakes, although barely over the Aston.

But as it is for the teams, we end our assessment considering porpoising. The effect is so pronounced heading into Turn 1 all week – particularly for Mercedes and Ferrari during our visits there – that it is almost comical. But given the impact on set-up and therefore laptime, the serious business of finding the best fix comes now. The first unexpected challenge of F1’s new era is under way.