After an increase in dirty air made racing more difficult in recent years, Formula 1's new regulations in 2022 aim to allow cars to race closer.
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Following the pre-season shakedown in Barcelona, Williams driver Alex Albon expressed satisfaction with his ability to follow cars through corners. After an increase in dirty air made racing more difficult in recent years, Formula 1’s new regulations in 2022 aim to allow cars to race closer on the track. Albon returned to F1 with Williams after missing the 2021 season while working as a test and reserve driver for Red Bull. Following cars through corners has become easier for the British-Thai racer, who completed the fourth-most laps in the field in Barcelona.
“How well we can follow – that’s been pretty surprising,” Albon said. “It’s a nice surprise and it’s something which takes a bit of getting used to because the effect of following is, as you gain almost a memory from what you can and can’t do when you’re a certain distance from a car, how to back off, you learn the limits of following and that’s being recalibrated a little bit.”
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“I haven’t spent many laps behind other cars but you can tell it’s improved greatly and that’s great for the sport. Hopefully, it will translate well,” the former Red Bull man added.
Albon, however, believes that the slipstream effect down the straights has been reduced. His remarks came after former Williams racer George Russell expressed concerns about the strength of the tow while following a car in a straight line.
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“We will see how it is with overtaking down the straights because my initial feeling is the tow effect might be a little bit less but we will have to see,” Albon said.
It has been a while since the world has seen Albon competing in Formula One. The last time he was in the sport was with Red Bull, partnering the current world champion, Max Verstappen. However, things did not exactly go to plan back the. Now, with renewed vigour and hunger, the British-Thai driver will look to make a positive impact.
“It feels really good. It feels, you know, I spent a while away from the race seat, and to get back into it, get back into the thing that I’ve wanted to do my whole life feels amazing,” Albon had said on his return.
“The team’s been super nice. They clearly know what they’re doing and on my side, it was going to a team where, yes, you can tell there’s trust there straight away – they believe in me – and on my side I’m trying to bring as much knowledge, as much experience as I can to them,” he added.
