(Motorsport-Total.com) – When the reigning world champion criticizes his own sport, it’s usually not a good sign. After Lando Norris had already expressed negative views on the new Formula 1 regulations several times before, he follows up again after the Japanese Grand Prix.
Read more Audi misses points in Suzuka: Weak start costs top-10 result
“Yes, the races might look great on TV, but the driving experience in the car is certainly not as authentic as it should be,” says Norris, who specifically complains that drivers currently have far too little control over what the car does.
This is quite remarkable, because in the past it was said that the new regulations were intended to put the driver back at the center. According to Norris, however, in some situations concerning the power unit, the opposite is true in reality.
He gives a specific example from the race in Suzuka and reports: “I didn’t even want to overtake Lewis [Hamilton]. It’s just that my battery is deploying energy, which I don’t actually want, but I can’t control it.”
“So I overtake him, but then my battery is empty, and he just races past me again,” says Norris, who explains: “If you are simply dependent on what the power unit does, the driver should at least have control over it – and that is not the case.”
Norris helpless: “Can’t do anything about it”
It should be noted that the driver does have a certain amount of control in the cockpit. For example, he can decide for himself when to use the overtake or boost mode. However, he has no influence on the general deployment, i.e., the energy output.
Norris mentions the Hamilton example from Suzuka again and explains that the battery deploys energy there in the 130R corner. The driver can’t do anything about it. However, this becomes a problem when another car is driving directly in front of you.
“I have to lift off the throttle, otherwise I’ll drive into him,” Norris describes, “and I’m not allowed to get back on the gas. Because if I accelerate, my battery deploys energy, but I don’t want that,” he explains. The driver has no influence on the behavior of the power unit here.
Read more Formula 1 Analysis: Winners and Losers of the Japanese Grand Prix
Only the engine software is responsible for the energy deployment. The driver thus effectively becomes a passenger in his own car. “I can’t do anything about it,” says Norris, who finally overtook Hamilton “out of necessity” in the chicane in his example.
However, because his battery was empty afterwards, the record world champion was able to counter immediately on the home straight. “As a driver, you simply have too little control,” Norris says in annoyance and emphasizes: “It simply shouldn’t be like that.”
Norris also calls for changes in qualifying
Already after qualifying in Japan, Norris and other drivers had criticized the current state of Formula 1. “I was a bit disappointed in qualifying because the more you pushed, the slower you became,” Williams driver Carlos Sainz explained the problem.
“Fast corners have now become charging stations for the car,” compatriot Fernando Alonso also criticized, and Norris himself said that qualifying in Suzuka was “certainly not” as much fun as with the old cars in recent years.
The first Grand Prix victories of the current Formula 1 drivers
“Qualifying went better yesterday than before,” Norris says today with some distance, “but there is still room for improvement.” The world champion explains: “We just want to go full throttle. I don’t want to lift off here and lose 60 km/h from 130R to the last corner.”
The McLaren driver therefore hopes that the FIA will intervene in the coming weeks and months and adjust the rules once again. “Some things can be improved, but the FIA knows that. I hope they do it,” says Norris.
Read more Challenge gone? Suzuka corners only ‘charging stations’ for Alonso