Fernando Alonso has again bemoaned the current state of Formula 1, saying the restrictions on development and testing are making races “very predictable”.
Under current power unit regulations, Formula 1 teams can only make limited changes to their engines while there were only four – two pre-season and two in-season – tests this season.
With Mercedes running away with the titles again this year, many are looking for ways to make the sport more competitive and two-time World Champion Alonso feels the lack of development during the season is having a negative effect on the sport.
“[We need] faster cars, because now we are a little bit too close to GP2 times,” he said. “Probably more testing or little bit more freedom in terms of developing the car because right now, as you put the car in the first winter test, more or less you keep that position until the end of the year.
“You make progress, everyone makes progress, and that’s it – the rules are very tight, so you cannot develop much in terms of engine, which is frozen, and aerodynamics is very restrictive.
“More or less what you have in the first test is what you have all season so that’s making the races very predictable and very boring.”
Alonso’s return to McLaren hasn’t been a happy one so far as new power unit supplier Honda has struggled, but the Spaniard insists it’s a long-term project as far as he is concerned.
“I think this is a question we need to answer in a few months or two or three years. It’s true that the competitiveness we have now is not what we wanted or not what we expected, at least,” he said. We knew that this is the first year and quite a difficult time, but obviously going out in Q1 is a little bit more difficult than what we thought.
“I’m still optimistic, I’m happy with the progress of the car. [At Silverstone] I felt good grip, I felt confident in the corners, I was able to push to the limit and I was happy with the car. Looking at some comparisons with the other guys there are some corners that are quite interesting in our favour, so we need to fix some problems but definitely we are in the right direction.”
[“source – planetf1.com”]
