Max Verstappen reckons the benefit provided by the "uglier" 2019 front-wings will be "limited", and therefore isn't expecting overtaking to become much easier as a result.
Formula 1 will adopt simpler front-wings next season as part of a plan to allow cars to follow more closely and therefore boost overtaking, but the Red Bull driver isn't buying into the claimed benefits and reckons they'll make the cars look worse.
"It might help a little bit, but what I'm already reading is that next year we'll have about the same downforce as this year, so I think that the benefit will be limited," he told his personal website.
"It only looks somewhat uglier, but maybe the design will be refined before the next season."
With downforce levels expected to stay the same in 2019, Verstappen suggested the new rules don't go far enough, admitting there needs to be a balance between having enough downforce so the cars are quick, but also the ability to run nose-to-tail to make the racing exciting.
"It's nice if a car corners very fast, but if you cannot catch one another, it's not really a nice race," he added. "I think you need a bit of a balance between the two.
"However, it is also not nice to drive a car that has no grip at all. If I compare this year’s car to the cars of 2015 and 2016 then of course, it’s a thousand times better now. It was always sliding and blocking, still fast, but not a nice feeling to drive."
Verstappen also waded into the team orders debate which has flared up again in light of Mercedes' recent tactics in Russia, where they asked leader Valtteri Bottas to move over for team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen said it was "normal" practice, but he would have done everything he could have to avoid being in such a situation.
"First of all, I would have made sure not to get into that situation simply by going faster, so Hamilton is not that close. Then you don’t have that problem and there's really no discussion. But once you are in that situation, to me, it seems very normal that it happens."
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