“The general feeling wasn’t that different”: Valtteri Bottas feels that the 2022 cars are going to feel the same despite regulation changes

Valtteri Bottas reveals that the 2022 F1 cars don’t feel very different on the simulator in spite of the regulation changes. 

F1 teams are bracing themselves for massive changes to regulations come the 2022 season. These changes have been brought about to produce more competitive racing among the drivers.

Now that the 2021 season is done and dusted, all teams have shifted their focus to developing next year’s car. This includes the drivers, who will spend hours on the simulator trying to get a feel of how the car will perform. Departing Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has come out to say that the 2022 cars don’t feel very different on the simulator.

Bottas took part in his 101st and final race for Mercedes at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi. He will partner up with rookie Guanyu Zhou at Alfa Romeo Racing next year onwards.

Also read: Ferrari made zero compromises on F1 2022 project amidst P3 fight against McLaren

Having worked on the 2022 car with both the Mercedes and Alfa Romeo simulators, Bottas admitted that the cars don’t feel very different.

“At least at the time, it seemed like the cars were a bit out of whack. Normal in terms of downforce. ” said Bottas while speaking to Motorsport.com.

“But the overall feeling, at least from the sim, wasn’t that different. We can’t simulate other cars chasing on the track and things like that, but it’s not much different. Maybe they have a little less downforce, but Like I said, that will change. “he added.

Valtteri Bottas laments the departure of the ‘high downforce’ cars of recent years

The recent F1 cars generated a huge amount of downforce. That resulted in faster cars, which were able to set record lap times at different circuits around the world. While Bottas looks forward to next year’s regulation changes, he admits that he’ll miss the old cars.

“It’s been fun, especially last year (the 2020 cars). The cars were even faster than this year, with more downforce.” said the 32 year old.

“But hey, if the action on the track next year is better and we can follow each other more closely, then it should be even more fun.

A new era of @F1 starts right here… 👊

Firing up our 2022 F1 car for the first time – the W13 is ALIVE. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/fphuaVp2dI

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 23, 2021

“And I think the cars in the future will be as fast as now. Hopefully that is the case. (with Alfa Romeo)” the Finn concluded. 

These comments were made in contrast to what McLaren driver Lando Norris felt. The young Brit admitted that the cars would feel a lot different and that everyone on grid would require time to adjust to the changes.

Also read: Former Red Bull Mark Webber delivers a remarkable tribute to the might of reigning world champion Max Verstappen