Formula 1 is preparing to publish its planned 2021 regulations in time to meet the deadline for agreement at the end of this month.
RaceFans understands the new rules for the 2021 F1 season, which include a significantly overhauled aerodynamics package, have received only minor alterations following objections from some teams who felt they left too little room for innovation.The regulations have been developed by Formula 1 commercial rights holder Liberty Media and the sport’s governing body, the FIA. A key goal of the changes to car design has been to allow cars to race more closely and overtake more easily.
However six teams – Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Haas, Racing Point and Toro Rosso – raised objections over the extent to which car design would become standardised under the new rules. “I do not support GP1 racing,” said Haas team principal Guenther Steiner at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
While some concession to the teams’ demands have been made, these have only been in areas which it is believed will not affect the work done to reduce the negative effect of turbulence from one car upon another.
Other aerodynamic changes to the cars were also accepted at a meeting of F1, FIA and teams’ representatives in Paris today. These included an increase in the size of the endplates in order to create more room for sponsors’ logos.
Among the other aspects of the rules discussed today included the possibility of reintroducing a partial freeze on engine development in order to limit costs. As reported previously, the plan to introduced standardised braking systems has been dropped.
The possibility of postponing the regulations changes to 2022 to allow more time for them to be finessed was also discussed, RaceFans has learned, but this is not thought to be a popular option. Ferrari will retain limited veto powers after 2020, but these will be subject to specific conditions.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2021 F1 season
- Verdict on error in GT race suggests Mercedes would have lost 2021 Abu Dhabi GP appeal
- Title ‘stolen’ from Mercedes made us ‘underdogs people cheer for’ – Wolff
- Red Bull Racing spent £230m during Verstappen’s title-winning 2021 campaign
- ‘I can’t box?’: Hamilton and Verstappen’s 2021 Abu Dhabi GP radio transcript
- Abu Dhabi’s legacy one year on: How the controversial 2021 finale changed F1
DAllein (@)
16th October 2019, 20:23
Sounds awful.
Let’s of course see what is published, but…
I expect (and hope for) Ferrari’s veto to finally end this horror story at least for 2021.
Marza738
16th October 2019, 21:10
Haas doesn’t support is because of their relationship with Ferrari. In reality they definitely support it.
socksolid (@socksolid)
17th October 2019, 15:55
Exactly. Haas is hoping ferrari will produce a killer chassis one day which allows haas to leap frog the non factory teams to p4 in the championship. If ferrari can not outspend everybody else then haas loses some advantage also.
Johnny
16th October 2019, 22:30
More of the stagnant same, while the sport slips more and more out of favour. They can’t even see past their own selfish goals!
It should have been standard aerodynamics for everyone, get all the teams on the same page, then relax the regs on controlled case by case basis over the next few years, slowly allowing teams to develop their own designs.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
16th October 2019, 22:43
Hmmm, one persons minor might well be an designers major.
Of course they want increased end plate sizes for sponsors logos …… lol.
rohnjaymiller (@rohnjaymiller)
17th October 2019, 2:37
Sounds good and reasonable for once. Have to see what the vote is, but I think Ferrari are under pressure not to exercise the veto–it would be a huge turn off just as F1 is starting to win new fans.
The big thing is to preserve the new aero rules that minimize the “dirty” air trailing a car so we get more close car-to-car racing. BTW, it was this backwash that destabilized Leclerc behind Vettel on the opening lap in Japan, leading to the wipe out of Verstappen. Safe enough to argue Leclerc should have known better, but wouldn’t the best outcome have been allowing Leclerc to stay close behind Vettel without wiping Verstappen out?
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
17th October 2019, 8:26
Good news! At least it’s not going backwards like every other sensible proposal so far. Let’s see how it goes, I’m all for trying it before judging.