Lance Stroll says Formula 1’s new rules for the 2022 season have produced cars which feel very different behind the wheel after becoming the first person to drive one.
The Aston Martin driver took the team’s new AMR22 onto the track for the first time at Silverstone last Friday. The team used one of its two permitted ‘filming days’ to conduct a shakedown test of its first 2022-specifiction chasses.
“I didn’t know I was the first driver to get behind the wheel of these new cars,” Stroll admitted afterwards. “It feels great.”
Under the new rules teams have had to cut back the upper surface aerodynamics of their cars and instead rely on more heavily sculpted sections beneath the floor to generate the huge downforce which allows F1 cars to corner so quickly. The 2022 cars also run on 18-inch wheels instead of 13-inches and their suspension systems have been simplified.
The changes have been made largely to encourage cars to race together more closely.
“They’re very…