Sebastian Vettel has criticized the new 2022 Formula 1 regulations and is not sure if it was worth the cost and effort for what ended up being the result. In his opinion, racing hasn’t really improved much. In addition, the World Cup decision will probably not be made as early as it has been for a long time.
“The big advance this year was that the cars can overtake and follow much more closely. But I don’t think there’s a big difference,” says the German, who will retire at the end of the season.
Formula 1 had introduced new ground-effect vehicles for 2022, which rely less on aerodynamic downforce and are therefore no longer as susceptible to turbulent air from the vehicle in front. Nevertheless, Vettel says: “We follow closer, but we have less air resistance, so you have to be closer to be able to overtake.”
“And with the tires, the big goal was to enable better racing, but I don’t think there’s a big difference,” he dismisses. “So I don’t want to say that it failed. But a lot of effort was certainly put in and it didn’t all come out, let’s put it that way.”
Tires could be better
The Aston Martin driver is generally not that happy with the tires this season. Especially in qualifying he has big problems getting the best out of them – as seven Q1 retirements in the last eight races prove.
“So as long as you’re on the good side of things, it’s okay,” he says. “But the faster the car is, the fewer problems you usually have. Now that we’re at the bottom of the grid, there are some surprises and some weekends where things don’t go right.”
“In addition, you only have one or two attempts in qualifying, which of course makes things much more difficult. But I would say it’s pretty much the way it was,” he sees no real progress there either.
Sprint races as a money magnet
He also criticizes Liberty Media, who in his opinion are too interested in money. The stumbling block is the doubling of sprint events for 2023, which was announced on Tuesday. There will be sprint races at six events next season, which the German is not a fan of.
“From the driver’s point of view, such a sprint is not exciting,” he says. “I think you’re still looking at the main race. You’re obviously trying to improve your position, but above all you’re not losing anything. You get a few points now, and a little bit more at that [als im letzten Jahr]but I think the focus is still on the race.”
“I don’t want to be the bad guy just to be the bad guy,” he insists, “but I think it’s a way to make more money.”