Renault's Hulkenberg says new bigger F1 wing is like a 'parachute'

For 2019, the FIA has mandated a larger rear wing with a bigger DRS effect as part of the package designed to improve racing.

"I would say yes," said Hulkenberg when asked if the engine felt more powerful.

"But on the other hand, we have a lot more drag with a big rear wing, so obviously you have less of that sensation.

"It's like pulling a parachute out across the straight, and you just see that massive rear wing in the mirrors, and obviously that has an impact on the feel of power."

Daniel Ricciardo, the team's other driver, had a scare when the DRS on his rear wing broke on teh Tuesday of F1 testing, and his car left the track at Turn 1. But the team has since solved that issue

Hulkenberg, who set the fastest time of the first week of testing in Barcelona, says that overall the RS19 doesn't feel too different to its predecessor, despite the front wing changes - which F1 has also made changes to for 2019.

"It doesn't feel a completely different animal, it was more of a feeling like coming home," he added.

"For me anyway, it hasn't changed that much.

"We have the same steering wheel for example, the seating position is very similar, so perhaps I also wasn't expecting a huge difference.

"Obviously the aero regulations, it was difficult to kind of judge and anticipate how that would impact the feeling, but for now it's not so different."

Hulkenberg says that, unlike some rivals, he hasn't increased his bodyweight to take advantage of the new 80kgs minimum for the driver/seat package.

But, he believes that lighter drivers have less of an advantage now in terms having less margin for using ballast.

"To be honest, all my career I've been at one number, I have my fighting weight, my happy place and that's 78kgs," said Hulkenberg.

"That's where I want to be and where I need to be, and more or less where I can be, not much less.

"But I just see it, the lighter drivers have had an advantage taken away from them, one that they used to have.

"Now they don't have that anymore, so it should be just a bit more fair across that subject.

"But I don't think that's really a measurable advantage for me."