The Racing Point Formula 1 team claims 2019 regulation changes concerning the design of the cars will drastically reduce their speed.
Compared to last season, they will sport simplified front and rear wings in an attempt to improve overtaking by reducing the amount of turbulent air produced by the cars, thus allowing for closer racing.
However, Racing Point (formerly Force India) technical director Andy Green has revealed to Motorsport that the speed of this year’s cars has suffered due to the regulation alterations.
“It’s been a big hit and when we first put it in the tunnel a few months ago, we’re talking a few seconds of lap time, and a poorly balanced car as well. It was the worst possible outcome. Hopefully, it has some positives with respect to closer racing,” Green said.
“We, like everyone else, have been trying to crawl our way out of the hole that we jumped into with these new regulations. It’s significant and it’s right up there with, not-quite a complete change of car, but it’s pretty close.”
Teams across the paddock foresee a development race at the start of the season in March as they look to recoup as much lost downforce as possible. Such a development race could prove especially difficult for teams that don’t have budgets to rival those of Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Renault, and McLaren.
What’s more, Green doesn’t believe that the new regulations will actually make it much easier to follow and overtake rivals on the track.
“I hope I’m wrong, I hope all this work will result in some positives in following another car but for the analysis we’ve seen, it looks relatively small.”