McLaren raise major concern over 'fundamental element of racing' in new F1 era

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has expressed grave concerns over the ability of drivers to overtake in F1's new era.

One of the primary reasons for introducing the biggest rule change seen in Formula 1 history was to improve racing and increase the overtaking opportunities for the drivers.

The DRS has been removed and replaced with active aero in the front and rear wings, whilst the bigger battery, with 350kW of power through the MGU-K, can be deployed for passing moves. 

Following the three days of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, however, several drivers made clear that overtaking would be difficult, a point supported by Stella, who has already indicated that changes may be required going forward.

"Unlike in the past, where we had the DRS, and the DRS created such an advantage from an aerodynamic drag point of view for the following car, this year, when you follow somebody, you have the same drag and the same power, so it becomes quite difficult to overtake," said Stella, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365.

"Our drivers raced with other drivers during the three days of testing in Bahrain, and they found it extremely difficult to overtake.

"The fact that you have an additional amount of energy when you follow, and you are within one second, is difficult to exploit, because this extra energy may mean that there is just a little bit more deployment at the end of the straight, if anything.

"So I think, as an F1 community, we should look at what can be done to make sure that we have sensible visibility when it comes to overtaking, otherwise we lose one of the fundamental elements of the nature of racing, which is giving the drivers the possibility to overtake."

Big teams all in the mix

For the most part, Stella was at least satisfied with what he witnessed from the MCL40 in the hands of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in terms of performance.

Across the leading teams, it was difficult to determine which one had the edge, with all pointing fingers at the other in an attempt to downplay their achievements.

Stella was no different, indicating that Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, for now, were ahead of McLaren, albeit appreciating the variety of parameters that come into play in testing.

"When it comes to looking at the pecking order, it's always very difficult in testing," said Stella "If we consider the power unit, the weight of the car, they can move loads of lap time, so it's difficult to compare.

"What I've seen so far is that, definitely, we can say that Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes seem to be very well equipped.

"They seem to be fast, in both the exploitation of the first lap, and then in the race simulations. So in terms of the big names, that we are used to here before, they seem to be there as well for this new era of Formula 1."