Allison: I don’t like these technical regulations

James Allison, technical director of the Mercedes team, makes no secret of the fact that he does not like Formula 1’s current technical regulations – furthermore, he suggested that even Max Verstappen, three-time world champion, would agree with him on this.

There have never been such large and heavy cars in the history of Formula 1, and in addition they have an extremely stiff suspension, which is accompanied by very low ground clearance – this, in turn, is necessary to create a ground effect. According to Ellison, driving it is not as comfortable and enjoyable as previous generation equipment.

“Of course I’m on my own again, because this topic haunts me, but personally I don’t like the current technical regulations,” Crash.net quotes Ellison. “I don’t think it’s good if cars have to be driven with such a low ground clearance.

We have a man who won the championship by a wide margin and he has every reason to love his car down to the last detail, but I doubt he will say that. But two years ago everything was different.”

At the same time, Ellison cited several figures for comparison: if the vehicle clearance was 120 to 140 mm in 2021, then in 2023 it fell to 60 mm.

“There were endless discussions in the press about cars distinguished by high rake, low rake (rake – the longitudinal slope of the chassis relative to the track), as if that was the whole point,” the Mercedes technical director continued. . – The high rake was about 140mm (the ground clearance at the rear of the car), the low rake was about 120mm. But compared to the machines of the current generation, these are simply cosmic values.

These machines are adjusted to a ground clearance of 60 mm. There may be a difference of a few millimeters between the cars of different teams, but they are all almost on the ground. With these rules it is very difficult to make the car do what the driver wants, because he just wants to be as close to the surface of the track as possible.”