"There’s a lot of performance, especially on the floor" - McLaren boss feels Red Bull proves that new regulations are not restrictive

McLaren boss Andrea Stella reckons Red Bull's dominance early in the second season of regulations proves that the regulations are not as restrictive as anticipated.

One of the major caveats of introducing the new regulations was the hope that they would compress the field. The reason why that was supposed to happen was the prescriptive nature of these regulations and introduction of a cost cap in the scheme of things.

After the first 15 months of the new regulations, Red Bull have dominated, while other teams appear to be playing catch-up. One of the major reasons behind that has been Adrian Newey's ability to crack the code of the new regulations.

Stella, though, feels that the way the Milton Keynes squad has been able to dominate the field, it's a clear sign that the regulations are not as prescriptive as was thought to be. He said, as per Motorsport.com:

“I have to admit, and I think most teams should admit the same, that before the new generation of cars touched the ground, we thought that the regulations were quite restrictive. But interestingly, as soon as you start the journey, you realise here’s a lot of performance, especially on the floor. This ground effect can be exploited from a technical point of view beyond what I think anybody in Formula 1 would have anticipated."

He added:

“If you see the level of sophistication of the geometries, you may see on some cars, especially possibly in the parts facing the ground, so not necessarily very visible, and the complexity of the flow field and the vertical structures that you want to generate under the car, then these went beyond what the regulations would have expected. That’s from a technical point of view, a fascinating journey.”

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Red Bull's dominance coincides with competitors underperforming

Red Bull's dominance has coincided with their competitors underperforming. Both Ferrari and Mercedes have gone through with what appear to be flawed concepts now and have paid for that.

While the Austrian squad has been impeccable in their approach, it's difficult to deny that there's an element of underperformance from their competitors. It's safe to say that while Red Bull are firing on all cylinders, Ferrari and Mercedes have been putting off friendly fires and taking care of other distractions. To add to that, their inefficient car concept has been a major setback.