For reigning world champion Lando Norris, driving the new generation of cars feels like he is a rookie again. “You have to teach yourself a completely different driving style. Actually, you have to forget everything you’ve ever done and start over. So for me, it’s a matter of figuring out how to handle the car and engine,” said the McLaren driver.
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The Briton, like Max Verstappen among others, hopes for a quick adjustment of the rules to improve the entertainment value of the sport and make racing more fun. Because according to Norris, since this season Formula 1 is no longer about driving on the limit, but about optimally managing the battery, and as a driver you can make less of a difference in iconic corners compared to before.
Lando Norris: “Absolutely. You can still make a difference as a driver, but by using the engine in the right way and no longer necessarily by the way you drive the car. You don’t go into Pouhon at Spa-Francorchamps now to see who has the biggest balls, that doesn’t count anymore. It’s now about who lifts and accelerates at the right moment without straining the batteries and things like that. Racing is determined by what the power unit needs.”
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In line with Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso fears that iconic corners in F1 will no longer be as challenging as before in the new situation. “There were always certain corners in Formula 1 that tested the limits of physics and the driver had to use all his skills and at times also be brave. Now you use those corners to charge the battery, no longer to improve the lap time. So it’s a different challenge you’re dealing with behind the wheel now,” said the Spaniard from Aston Martin.
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