SHANGHAI, China — Lando Norris has said it will no longer be possible to judge who Formula 1’s ballsiest racer is because the sport has created cars which need a style of racing “none of us grew up wanting to do.”
F1’s controversial new rules have created engines with a 50-50 split between combustion and electrical power, placing a huge new emphasis on harvesting energy and utilising battery power.
Drivers are now required to harvest power by going slower through corners, which created a worryingly lifeless spectacle in qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix last week.
Max Verstappen has already likened the cars to all-electric series Formula E “on steroids” and during the Chinese Grand Prix media day on Thursday joked his best practice now was to play games of Mario Kart.
Fernando Alonso also suggested some of F1’s most iconic corners have now been diminished.
“There were always curves where the driver had to be brave and push their limits,” Alonso said, when asked specifically about Japan’s legendary high-speed left-hander corner known as 130R. “That doesn’t exist anymore; you use Suzuka’s Esses to charge the battery. Different challenge, still fun — you love racing — but I grew up in the other one, the one about risking it in the curves, and I prefer that.”
When asked about Alonso’s comment a few hours later, Norris said he agreed.
“You’re driving the power unit, you’re not driving the car to the same limit,” Norris said. “It’s not like, ‘go and drive the car the quickest way possible.’ That’s not how it works.
“It’s a very different style of driving that’s needed. It’s basically forget everything you’ve ever done and reset.”
Norris used the Pouhon section of the beloved Spa-Francorchamps circuit to make his point.
“I think you can still make a difference as a driver by driving the power unit in the correct way, but not by necessarily driving the car in a much better way. You’re not going to go into Pouhon now and see who has the biggest balls. You’re just going to see who can lift at the correct point and use the amount of throttle that you have to use, that doesn’t use the power, that doesn’t use the battery and those kind of things.”
Norris said the sport’s new generation are a long way away from what he dreamed of racing as a kid.
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When asked whether the drivers’ role has now been diminished with the new machinery, Norris said: “I don’t think so. It’s just been altered I think quite a lot.
“It’s gone from just seeing how you can optimise every single millisecond out of the car itself and purely from a driver, car — forget about the engine because that was always pretty good for everyone, let’s say. It was just who can get the most out of the car on that given day. That was it.
“You’re driving how you’ve always driven your whole life, which is throttle, brake … and generally more throttle and less brake. I think for the first time in our lives basically it’s forget everything you’ve learned in F4, F3, F2 and drive it in a completely different way. The thing is the driver can still make a big impact and can certainly have a big impact on driving the power unit in the correct way.
“It’s just that’s not what any of us have ever grown up doing. Probably not something any of us grew up wanting to do either but that’s the way it is now. George [Russell] has also done a very good job at understanding all of these things and he still deserves credit for optimising the package that he has and understanding these things potentially better than others.
“So the driver can still make a big difference and I think that understanding how you can maximise the car itself and the power units together is in that next step but at the minute we just need to try and optimise one and then be able to shift our focus to the other.”
One of the big factors drivers have complained about is the method now needed for harvesting battery power.
F1’s cars rely on the kinetic energy created through braking to recirculate power into the battery, which can then be utilised in the form of a power boost around the lap.
Norris said that style has taken some getting used to.
“It’s quite an odd feeling to in certain places throttle the least amount possible when you just want to get on throttle, because that’s what it should be more about,” Norris said.
“And having to do such big lift-and-coasts into some corners again that’s just not what we’ve grown up doing or wanted to ever do but it’s the situation we’re in now because of the rules that we have. So as much as some drivers are maybe not happy with how you have to drive a Formula 1 car nowadays, it’s still Formula 1 and you still have to do the best you can so it’s what it is.”
