MOTORSPORT – FORMULA One enters an enforced five-week break with plenty to ponder following Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The third race of the sport’s new engine era exposed the shortcomings of the rules overhaul, billed as Formula One’s most sweeping ever, in a way the first two in Australia and China had not.
The hybrid power units, now split nearly 50-50 between electric and combustion power, have introduced an element of energy management to the racing with fresh challenges for drivers.
They are having to tactically “lift and coast”, easing off the throttle early and coasting into a corner, so the combustion engine can recharge the battery.
They are also having to contend with ‘super-clipping’ where the power unit automatically diverts energy from the engine to the battery, slowing down the car even if the driver is flat on the throttle.
Formula One’s governing body said meetings to take stock of the new rules would take place in the April break created by the cancellation of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to conflict in the region.
The Fia had already moved to tweak energy management rules to allow drivers to push harder for Suzuka qualifying.
“Any potential adjustments, particularly those related to energy management, require careful simulation and detailed analysis,” it said in a statement.
Red Bull’s four-times champion Verstappen, “beyond frustrated” after qualifying, said after Sunday’s race that he was considering his future in the sport, as he wasn’t enjoying driving the new cars.
“It still hurts your soul when you see your speed dropping so much, 56kph down the straight,” said McLaren’s reigning champion Lando Norris after qualifying.
“Driver skill is not really needed anymore,” declared Aston Martin’s double world champion Fernando Alonso, who at the pre-season test in Bahrain sarcastically remarked that the team’s chef could now drive the car.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was left frustrated after going up against the algorithm governing the energy deployment-recharge equation.
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