Retiring Sebastian Vettel claims F1 rules revolution missed the mark
- Planet Sport writer
- 20 November 2022
While many have praised the affect Formula 1's regulations for the 2022 season have impacted racing, retiring Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel is not so sure.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be Vettel's last after he announced his retirement several weeks ago so he has nothing to lose by being honest.
F1 introduced new downforce regulations for this season, specifically bringing back the controversial ground-effect downforce that has been the cause of the porpoising plagueing the drivers all year.
However, Vettel thinks it would have been better if they had just left the rules alone.
"It would have been better for the sport to have left the rules as they were," he told Suddeutsche Zeitung.
"It's gotten a little better, but the big revolution that was announced didn't materialise.
"A process has been started that has the potential to bring the field closer together.
"Thanks to the budget cap, in the long term it won't be only the teams with a lot of money that win, but also the smaller teams.
"However, that will only happen in a horizon of five years."
The former Formula 1 world champion also called on the sport to take more of a moral stance by, for example, scrapping the Qatar Grand Prix from the schedule.
"If statements like the ones made by the world cup ambassador are made, we simply should not go to Qatar," he said.
"It should be exactly determined what the basic political conditions must be to be able to do sports in a country. And certain countries are just out of date.
"Then, as Formula 1 or FIFA, we should just say no. Not just nod politely to take the money."
