Felipe Massa will have fond memories of driving the 2017 Williams car, claiming the design changes brought in meant they were better suited to the “proper driver”.
Wider bodies and bigger tyres were introduced with the aim of reducing lap times by around five seconds compared to 2015 and the result was a number of lap records being broken throughout the year.
The negative impact was on overtaking with the number of moves made around half that achieved the season before but as an experience behind the wheel, the Brazilian was only complimentary.
“Definitely, I remember it as a nice car to drive,” he said. “When you’re not comparing with the best cars for sure but just driving the car is a nice feeling for the driver, in terms of g-force, in terms of physically.”
It was the physical aspect that some were concerned about pre-season, with cornering speeds much higher than in recent years but for Massa, that was just part of the thrill.
“I think to do a perfect lap in this car you need to be a driver as well, to take the best out of the car in qualifying, you need to be a proper driver,” he claimed. “Not like in the past when the tyres were just going away and you needed to drive like a grandmother.
“Now you need to drive like a driver and I think it’s a lot to do with my driver style, so I like. It was similar to 2006, 2007, 2008, even before that. You have the car ready to accept everything so the driver really needs to risk and drive like a proper aggressive direction.”
Force India’s Sergio Perez agreed with Felipe’s comments adding: “It’s quite good. It was a pleasure to drive these kind of cars around the corners, pretty much the fastest cars of the latest generation. The speed that we do through high-speed, low-speed has been quite enjoyable, especially over one lap.”
For the Mexican, however, a lot of the improvement came from a change in philosophy from tyre supplier Pirelli and he is intrigued by how a more aggressive approach for 2018, including the introduction of a new HyperSoft, will change the dynamic again.
“I think everyone seems to forget how much Pirelli did a step in terms of tyres, we are able to push a lot more on them,” he commented. “We’re still not flat out on them, but we did a good step. It’s also something enjoyable in the races.
“It will be interesting to see with the Pirelli changes for next year how we are able to cope with the new generation of tyres.”