The Leclerc moment that suggests F1 is too easy

There are not many places on the Formula 1 calendar that spark a glint in the eyes of drivers like Suzuka.

The sweeping Esses, the two Degners, Spoon and 130R all bring their own unique challenges. And then when you add in the old school grass and gravel runoff areas, it takes it to a new level.

As Daniel Ricciardo told Autosport last weekend: "I know on the approach to Turn 3, you have just got grass. You don't have an outside kerb to lean on.

"You are looking at Turn 3, you are not looking at the edge of the track, so you know you have to have a bit of margin because if you turn in on the grass, it is done.

"Exiting Turn 7, you have got a little bit of ripple strip but then there is a little bit of grass and gravel. And mate, if you are on the grass there, you are going off, getting sucked off with the grass and all that.

"Having the edges there makes it more exciting and intimidating. If it was asphalt it would take a lot out, so I hope they never do that."

Such respect for the Suzuka challenge was cast in a bit of fresh light on Sunday, though, when onboard footage emerged of Charles Leclerc comfortably taking 130R flat-out with one hand while trying to hold on to a loose mirror.

It was of course quite impressive that someone could plot their way through a flat-out corner like that while multitasking in the cockpit. But on the flip side, it says something about the nature of modern F1 cars that a driver doesn't have to be totally on it and in the zone as he blasts through one of F1's most epic turns.

Lap times have tumbled and cornering speeds have gone to levels unseen for years. That sounds like something we should be applauding, but there is actually a downside to it

F1 should always be about having grand prix cars that blow the minds of the drivers. They should not be something where the challenge is of simply directing it between two white lines. We want untamed beasts beneath them.

There should be far too much power for the car and tyres to be able to handle; so that every time they leave the garage they are on a tightrope of grip.

The high levels of downforce that the current cars produce have proved to be more than a match for the impressive 950bhp-plus figures that the current turbo hybrids are producing.

It was interesting hearing Sebastian Vettel saying he didn't need to touch the brakes much in the opening section of Suzuka during qualifying.

"We had a headwind up the Esses which is just what you want because then the car feels even better," he said. "I don't think I used the brakes other than at Turn 2. It was unbelievable."

With cars behaving like that, lap times have tumbled and cornering speeds have gone to levels unseen for years. That sounds like something we should be applauding, but there is actually a downside to it.

When cars get better through corners, the knife-edge corners of the past that made the difference between the great and the good drivers become flat-out. And when they are flat-out, speeds through there become more down to the car and engine power rather than the driver.

This was a factor that Max Verstappen - who famously labelled Eau Rouge as 'eyes-closed flat-out' - pointed out last year when he said that Red Bull suffered at challenging drivers' tracks such as Silverstone because flat-out corners expose power deficits.

"I reckon if you miss 70-80bhp you know you're going to struggle and, also with the cars we have, a few corners became flat-out so it gets more and more difficult," he said.

"When you go through a corner that's almost flat, and when you accelerate out of the corner, our engine is just not pulling. And you know you just don't have the horsepower.

"And the corners that are flat, when you start scrubbing speed because of steering, we lose even more."

Flat-out corners in effect can be regarded as straights: and that means that power differences actually have an impact.

Last weekend, Red Bull's chief engineer Paul Monaghan said teams have found that there isn't much of a drag penalty from adding downforce to the current cars: but that high levels of downforce meant that more power was needed for each improvement for it to make a difference. And that's why engine steps had again become important.

"If you put a more powerful engine in the car, assuming it is driveable, the car will go faster," explained Monaghan.

"So since 2017 we've had greater levels of downforce and not much of an increase in drag: so the car has gained some efficiency despite gaining load and some induced drag.

As F1 pushes on with its plans for 2021, whatever gets agreed at the end of this month should be the start of getting the rules right

"So you could argue, if you are looking purely at engine versus aero gain, that if you have a higher level of downforce you may argue you need the same percentage, and therefore more points of aero, as we would call them, for a lap time change than you might have done with fewer points before."

The current cars have become so good through the corners that it's become an issue for drivers trying to get to the bottom of problems with their cars too. A number of teams have struggled with incredible aero sensitivity this year.

For Haas's Kevin Magnussen, the huge grip that current F1 cars have has changed the game in terms of what makes a successful chassis.

"I think these cars have so much grip and so much downforce that you can always get it to do more or less what you want," he said. "It's all really just down to the overall grip. You can always get it to behave well.

"In the past, with the previous generation of cars, you would always have some instability in the rear under entry, and then understeer mid-corner and issues with traction on the way out. That is more or less what you would always find, so you were always compromising yourself.

"With these cars you have just got an endless amount of grip. So you never really have problems with instability on entry, and if you have understeer you can always fix that. And on new tyres at least, traction is no problem. It is just the fast cars have a higher level of grip so it never a balance issue any more."

And that's especially more important amid concerns from some teams that the current 2021 plans for greater downforce to come from underfloor aero, rather than the front wing, could end up producing cars with tremendous understeer - which would be bad for the racing.

As F1 pushes on with its plans for 2021, whatever gets agreed at the end of this month should be the start of work to get the rules right rather than the end.

The new generation of super-fast cars has shown that what seems like a good idea can end up in a place that is not so ideal once teams are unleashed to make their very best designs.