Former F1 driver questions major compromise: 'It shouldn't be that'

Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert has raised questions over the new cars for the ongoing season, admitting that so far, he is not a fan.

Brand new technical regulations came into play this year, which included major changes to the power units.

However, the necessity for energy recovery in aggressive circumstances has left various drivers far from impressed, with the cars losing speed at the end of long straights as they run out of battery.

Herbert has stated the challenge of being the latest in the braking zone to extract lap time has disappeared.

“It still hasn't quite fully worked for me yet,” Herbert exclusively told RacingNews365 at the launch of the Lola T70 at the Royal Automobile Club. 

“Even in Japan, 130R, going into the chicane. From a driving experience, you're losing the driving experience because that late braking is gone.

“That Turn 9 and 10 at Australia is gone and it shouldn't be that. 

“I know that it's not far off to be perfect, I know they're going to tinker with it a little bit more for deployment.

“That's probably the biggest thing, that eventually they'll be able to make it more linear with the way the power delivery that it has got.

“It may be a bit slower, yes, but I don't think that's a big deal personally. Maybe that's something they can work on down the line to have a little bit more battery capacity, for example. 

“But then it's weight and space and everything else that goes with that.”

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F1 not seeing 'proper overtaking'

Overtaking has been another common complaint as drivers utilise their battery capacity, rather than relying on driver skill.

“The overtaking, some people like it, some don't,” Herbert said. “I still haven't quite understood if there's more for it or more against it.

“Some people like when they overtake going into the chicane in Suzuka and then they overtake again going into Turn 1.

“It's not really proper overtaking, from that point of view. It's a very hard thing to make happen. 

“It's like DRS - if you took DRS away, there would be no overtaking at all.

“At least it added to it, and that's what they've tried to do with 'overtake' [mode] so far. But it's not quite working yet. We just need a little bit more to make it happen.”

However, Herbert insisted it is not all doom and gloom.

The three-time race winner insisted the lighter and more nimble cars offer the drivers more luxury to battle wheel-to-wheel.

“The one thing that is good, the cars actually do work. You can actually race each other. You can have a bit of a side-to-side battle, which probably the last cars you couldn't.

“Visually, it looks better, the racing seems to be able to have a bit more of a wheel-to-wheel [battle]. 

“It's just sort of somehow getting that power to be more consistent and not having so much of the regen.”