Kevin Magnussen has praised the new 2022 Formula 1 cars, highlighting that following a rival driver is “so much better” compared to previous years.
This year, new technical regulations are in operation, with the cars seeing the return of ground effect.
One of the aims of the new cars is to allow for closer racing on the track, as in recent years, downforce complexity increased the amount of dirty air produced.
As a result, cars struggled to follow each other through corners and often began to overheat when following behind for a period of time.
Magnussen, who has six seasons of F1 experience under his belt, is confident after the opening race of the new season that the changes have been positive for the sport.
“It’s certainly changed,” Magnussen said. “Following is a lot better, it’s so much better and I think this way of racing is a lot more fun and rewarding.”
However, concerns were raised during pre-season testing by several drivers that the slipstream effect has been reduced.
Magnussen too recognised that during the race, but says the Drag Reduction System (DRS) has an even bigger impact on racing than before.
“I don’t know if it’s too easy to overtake. I think you can certainly follow a lot better, but the slipstream effect is a lot less.
“So if you just go on your own then the DRS effect is bigger than it was last year, but when you’re trying to overtake someone you catch them slower than you did in the past because the slipstream effect is so much less.”
One of the key battles during the Bahrain Grand Prix was between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, who duelled for several laps for the lead of the race.
DRS played a vital part in that fight, with Leclerc using it to re-pass the Red Bull driver after he had been overtaken.
F1 has spoken before about its desire to remove DRS from F1 and return to “natural” racing, which may not be viable in the short-term if the slipstream effect has been reduced.
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