Verstappen identifies 'tough' current F1 car trait which 'takes magic away'

Amid concerns that have been recently raised by drivers who feel Formula 1 is swaying away from the sport's intentions of making the racing closer, Max Verstappen has identified another problem that "takes the magic" away from the current cars.

Out of the five races that have taken place so far in 2023, four have been on street circuits and the Red Bull driver believes the current cars are more difficult to drive over the kerbs because of their stiff suspension.

"I think they are a bit more stable when you're following. Like, the other [previous] generation, you could have massive oversteer or understeer in high-speed or low-speed," said Verstappen to media, including RacingNews365.com.

"Now when you lose downforce, but it's a bit more understeer, a little bit more oversteer, nothing really drastic.

"I think that improved, but because of the stiffness of the cars, and how you have to run them, it takes a little bit of that magic away, especially on a street circuit where you could ride a kerb here and there.

"That probably is a bit tough around Baku, but also around Singapore, that makes it very hard."

Verstappen: Old cars more agile

Verstappen thinks that older cars from the previous decade of racing were a lot more "agile" to drive because of how light they were.

In 2010 the minimum weight was around 620kg, but that has since risen to 798kg in recent years.

"I think in general we have to try and get away from – but it's very hard – is just a weight increase. When you jump back in an old car, you definitely feel the difference in how agile an old car was.

"But that's like early 2010. Before that they were even lighter, right? So, I don't know how we can solve that.

"Also the bigger wheels, they’re quite a bit heavier as well. So that for me goes in the wrong direction. But I don't know what we can do about turning it around."