Pierre Gasly has spoken of his disappointment with how predictable the podiums have been in the 2022 season, despite the change of regulations which were introduced to increase competitiveness.
Not counting the results of the top three teams of the season – Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes – McLaren’s Lando Norris is the only driver to step foot on the podium this season.
This is as opposed to the 2021 season where eight different teams managed to secure at least one podium throughout the season.
When asked for his thoughts on how successful the new regulations have been this season, the Frenchman replied: “I think in terms of racing, we’ve seen more overtakes. In terms of driving-wise, it seems like it’s easier for us to follow on some tracks.
“Definitely on that side, I think they’ve been providing and improving the sport. On the other side, looking at all the podiums this year, and only seeing Lando managed to make it to the podium only once, apart from the top three.
“Personally, I was hoping that we could see a bit more variety in the finishing order, like in the top finishing orders, with maybe more midfield teams getting the chance to fight for podiums.”
This can be explained by the addition of Ferrari becoming a front-runner in 2022 as opposed to being a midfield team in the previous year.
In 2021, it was just Red Bull and Mercedes who were consistently fighting for race wins with the midfield teams picking up potential podiums or, in some cases, race wins where they can.
“Hopefully this is something that can improve over the next couple of years and get the field closer together, have more teams fighting for podiums,” Gasly added.
“You will always have one or two dominant teams, but at least hopefully with gaps not big enough not to give opportunities for the midfield to be in contention for podiums.”
