Negative feedback
The major changes made to the technical regulations have sparked several controversies in the world of Formula 1, starting with those from various drivers. Among these, the one who expressed the most dissatisfaction was the four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who in addition to having criticized the new single-seaters even threatened to retire from Formula 1 after the Japanese Grand Prix, where he had not even reached the Q3 milestone in qualifying. Also at Suzuka, at the end of a race characterized by excellent overtakes, Charles Leclerc managed to obtain a podium finish, but despite this, the Monegasque reiterated that he “cannot stand qualifying”, complaining about how driving faster in corners costs him time on the straights.
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The common problem according to Alesi
A problem, the latter, which is in common with what Verstappen suffers from, at least in the opinion of former Ferrari driver Jean Alesi: “Max is struggling a lot right now, really a lot, because you can see the system they have now on the car, the way they manage the throttle, they have less electric power – he commented to RacingNews365 – is this perhaps the moment when the fastest drivers are in more difficulty than the others? Perhaps, because you see the qualifying here (in Japan), Max and Charles were faster in every corner, but slower at the end of the lap“.
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The biggest problem encountered by Leclerc was in the amount of energy lost by the SF-26 once the throttle was released, which he could then no longer use on the straights. Verstappen was much clearer, defining the RB22 “undriveable”, due to the car’s balance problems and understeer at corner entry, added to which is the sudden oversteer under acceleration. As a result, while Leclerc has always finished in the top four in the first three races of the world championship, the Dutchman obtained 6th place as his best result in Australia.
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