Mercedes chief doubts new rules: 'That didn't work'

Mike Elliott, technical director at Mercedes, does not feel that the new 2022 technical regulations have achieved their intended purpose. In an interview with Motorsport.com Elliott questions whether it has indeed become easier to overtake on the track.

Most of the new rules that took effect in 2022 focused on the aerodynamics and the bottom plate of the cars. The rules should have gone into effect a year earlier but were delayed due to the pandemic. The aim of the rules was to make it easier for different cars to get close to each other. Under the new rules, cars would have significantly more downforce when close behind another car. This would allow more duels to be fought on track, rather than through strategy, pit stops or by DRS alone.

'It doesn't feel like it's gotten any easier'

Elliott questions whether that goal has been achieved. "If you look at what they were intended to do with improving overtaking, they’ve definitely allowed the cars to get closer in the corners, but I’m not sure that we’ve not then lost out on the straights in terms of the wake and the drag reduction you get as a result of it. So, it doesn’t feel to me like we’ve seen significantly closer racing, we’ve just seen a different set of rules to work with."

The numbers don't quite agree with Elliott. Last year, Pirelli announced that there were 30% more overtaking actions in 2022 than a year earlier. That includes actions where drivers overtake each other multiple times in a corner series in the battle for a spot.