Norris: Current breed of F1 car feels like 'F2'

Lando Norris believes the current ground-effect generation of Formula 1 cars is more akin to F2 machinery than the previous breed of car.

An overhaul of the technical regulations came into force last season with most of the downforce now being created through the floor.

Red Bull has stolen a march on the opposition, winning 29 of the 33 Grands Prix held under the regulations which were designed to make following and overtaking easier for drivers by reducing the dirty air being created by the cars.

"For the engineers, it is quite a different challenge," Norris told media including RacingNews365 when asked if it was difficult to understand the current generation of car.

"Some things are more simple, some things are not, but I think a lot of the philosophy is kind of similar as before you had high-rake cars, low-rake cars and there were a lot more different things that you could do and those different things worked.

"Here, I feel everyone is leaning towards one direction, which is what Red Bull has done, so therefore I would say that it is simpler, but also more complicated to understand how the floor works in the best possible way."

Norris' damning assessment

"The cars are more simple than they have ever been with the front wings and stuff, when you look at a few years ago, how complicated it was with the bargeboards and all of that," added Norris.

"It is a mixture and the car is difficult to drive, but it is hard to say if it is different, easier or harder. It is definitely different.

"The car doesn't feel as incredible to drive as a couple of years ago, like in 2019/2020, I think the cars were more impressive than they are now.

"Now it is a little bit more like a Formula 2 [car] rather than the Formula 1 we had a couple of years ago."