Two of the major objectives that Formula 1 has with introducing the new car are bringing the field together and cutting costs. While both of these objectives are interrelated, the cost-cutting began in the previous season with the budget cap. Because of these changes, the teams, especially the richer teams like Ferrari, are now operating more rigidly.

This is something Ferrari’s racing director, Laurent Mekies, also admitted to.

“There’s definitely a lot less freedom,” he said. “We’re all excited because it’s going to be very different than this year.”

As for how much the cars will differ from each other and what the general anticipation for 2022 should be, Mekies said, “I think the first time around we will see enough differences to make us all happy. (…) But in early 2023, we should look closely to see whether there is still enough differentiation and space for teams to make a difference.”

Ferrari racing director sheds light on ‘slower’ cars in 2022

For a while now, many people in the F1 community have wondered whether the new cars will be slower than the outgoing ones. This is all the more fascinating because the most recent F1 cars were the fastest in history.

“The cars are so fast now. Even if we stabilize by a few seconds, say two seconds less, that changes anything for anyone? Probably not,” Laurent Mekies explained.

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And going back to the topic of ‘freedom’, Mekies mentioned that the speed of the cars will depend on just how much the rules change in the future.

“I think it has to do with the question of how much freedom we have and how much freedom we have after a certain period of time,” Mekies said.

But regardless, all of these questions and curiosity will only be answered once the pre-season testing begins.

So only after February 23 can we determine whether the cars are slower, faster, better, and most importantly, capable of producing closer racing or not.

“Big Gains, Much More Aggressive” – The Inside News on the 2022 Ferrari F1 Car