Fernando Alonso says tyre degradation is still an issue when following a rival car closely, despite the introduction of new technical regulations.
This year, the cars have been built under a new set of technical rules, aimed at allowing drivers to follow a rival more closely through corners.
Previously, cars would lose downforce and overheat if they followed another closely through corners, but in the early stages of the 2022 campaign, several drivers have commented over the effect being reduced.
However, Alonso says that Pirelli’s tyres are still becoming damaged when cars are following in battle.
“It’s easy to follow cars, for sure,” Alonso said. “Aerodynamically I think we don’t lose as much downforce as before but the tyres are still an issue.
“To follow cars, you still damage a lot the tyres. On wet conditions – I didn’t drive in Barcelona [during a wet test], because we had this problem with the car in the morning – but I guess it’s going to be difficult.
“[When these cars on the low speed [through] corners, the slower that you run, obviously, in wet conditions, that will be a challenge.”
Alonso also questioned the success of the new regulations to make the field more competitive, believing the qualifying order ahead of races is still mostly team by team.
“The new regs are supposed to bring all the cars closer together and multiple teams could win races and drivers and things like that,” he said.
“I think the order of the qualifying is still team by team, you know, not drivers by drivers so there’s still a thing that the sport in general should keep looking into that and improved it.”
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