Daniel Ricciardo believes Formula 1 cars should be harder to drive than they currently are, as it would help to separate the best from the best in terms of driver performance.
It’s often said that modern F1 cars have become too easy to drive and therefore almost any driver with single-seater experience can jump in one and get fairly close to the limit.
That’s not how it used to be though, according to the Red Bull driver, who believes they should be harder on a physical level to allow the driver to make more of an impact.
“The easy part is probably more so physically now,” he told Grand Prix Times. “I know when I first drove in 2009 in my first test, physically the car was harder.
“That’s why the young guys are able to get in the car and not suffer as much. In my first test I thought my head was going to fall off! From that side a bigger challenge would be nice.”
Whilst he admits they’ve gotten easier over time, he says it’s still a challenge to extract the maximum.
“A pretty good race car driver could drive within maybe 1.5 to 2 seconds [of the pace in a current F1 car], but still to get the last two tenths out of these cars is pretty tricky,” he added.
“For sure the high speed corners are not as fast as they were a few years ago…that would be nice to get that back, to have some corners on the calendar where the real good guys are taking it full and the ones who just don’t have that last bit of commitment are having to lift.”
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