2022 rules change 'trumps everything' in F1 history - Green

F1 has introduced entirely new technical regulations for 2022 as it looks to make the sport more competitive.

The changes for this year include a move from 13-inch to 18-inch tyres with wheel covers, simplified bodywork and front wings, and a ground effect floor.

The new rules are expected to make the field closer and overtaking to be easier.

Speaking at the launch of Aston Martin’s AMR22, Green spoke about how intense it has been for the team given the limited time available to prepare for the new regulations.

“By far the biggest change in regulations I think the sport has ever seen,” Green explained. “My career goes back to 1991 and this trumps anything since 1991 and I think it trumps everything as far as F1 is concerned. It’s a completely new concept but a completely new way of approaching the regulations as well. 

“It’s been a massive challenge. It’s been exciting for sure because there is so much to do and so much to learn and we are only just starting this exploration of these regulations. We have only really been attacking them and looking at them and developing within them since January last year, so we haven’t had a lot of time. 

“And if you think we started in January last year as the first time the wind tunnel runs start in anger, we had to be releasing a chassis six months later. So it was intense, it really was intense. It was a lot of work and then we are trying to combine that with trying to compete in a season last year as well, which made things even harder.”

Red Bull launched its RB18 on Wednesday afternoon but it was a show car, rather than the machine it will run in pre-season testing as it looks to hide some of its innovative parts.

Green says the team was keen to have the new car ready so it could complete a shakedown to identify any early issues ahead of the season.

“Well we’re shaking down tomorrow and really what we wanted to do is shakedown as early as possible to check the systems out on the car and give us some time between shakedown and Barcelona test. So that is the reason for shaking down tomorrow, so we have time to react. 

“Hopefully we’ll have a good shakedown tomorrow [Friday] and there’s nothing to react to, but because the car is absolutely brand new with no carryover at all, and pre-season testing is really short, and the second test is so close to the first race that it’s going to be almost impossible to react to, we thought it’s going to be good to get a shakedown in before the first test, give ourselves a gap between the shakedown and the first test to react to,” he added.

“That’s where we came to with the shakedown date, and it just made sense to launch the day before. We have the car, the car’s effectively ready, so that was the logic behind it.”