F1 2021 Rules - More Information Released

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
F1 2021 regulations.jpg

Further clarity of the proposed 2021 regulations has been revealed - showing a dramatic change to the way the sport will look in two years time.

Further insight into the new look Formula One for 2021 has been released, showcasing rules that aim to make the series much less reliant on aerodynamic downforce and bring back driver influence and overtaking to the top level of open wheel motorsport.

Key to the changes has to be a stronger reliance of ground effect than is currently the case in Formula One 2019, taking away the aero dependencies that currently prevent drivers from following closely behind a rivals in the 'dirty air', one of the acknowledged areas of the sport that currently provides the biggest obstacle to close racing throughout the field.

Although certainly not going back to 1980's level of ground effect influence, the move is still very good news for fans hoping for closer competition on track, something that has fallen away significantly since the aerodynamic changes introduced for the 2017 season.

Let's take a look at some of the key areas of the new regulations...

The Core Principles

More raceable cars
The aerodynamic regulations brought in for 2019 were designed to try to remedy the issues caused by the 2017 rule changes, which saw those cars’ complicated aerodynamic designs reduce downforce for a following car by an estimated 50%. But according to Tombazis, any improvements achieved in 2019 are nothing compared to what we’ll see in two years’ time, when 'ground effect' (downforce produced by the shaped underside of cars) will play a much bigger role in how the cars generate their downforce…

“[With the 2021 car] typically, from about a 50% loss of downforce for the following car at two car distances [in 2017] it’s down to about a 5-10% loss,” says Tombazis. “So we have a massive reduction of the reduction of downforce for the following car.”

That’s a huge difference. But disturbed air has further knock-on effects too, chief among them being the damaging effect on a following cars’ tyres. And with that in mind, tyres are also a key factor set to change for 2021, when Formula 1 moves from 13-inch to 18-inch rubber.

“We are in fairly deep consultation with Pirelli,” says Tombazis, “about how to make the tyres really step up and be in a position where they enable people to race; they don't degrade, they don't force people to manage the tyres so much.”

More competitive grids
The 2019 British Grand Prix was undoubtedly a cracker – but the bare facts remain that Valtteri Bottas’ pole time in qualifying was over three seconds faster than Robert Kubica’s P20 time – and Brawn is candid that that’s too big a gap for the sport to countenance, with a key objective now being to tighten the field up in 2021 by a nominal factor of around half.

“We have three teams that can win races at the moment, that's all,” he says. “Over the next couple of years, Formula 1 will be on a much better path… where a really good, moderately-funded team, can cause a lot of trouble. That's what we want. If you get a Charles Leclerc or a Max Verstappen in a midfield team, it can make a difference. It won't matter at the moment.”

Part of the plan to achieve that is to have a set of what Brawn describes as “very prescriptive” aerodynamic rules, designed to stop one team discovering a ‘silver bullet’ that allows them to crush the opposition. And while Brawn – better than most – understands how those constraints might frustrate some F1 teams’ aerodynamicists, he was adamant that the good of the sport depended on them…

“Undoubtedly,” he says, “from the relative freedom teams have had so far, it's going to be frustrating. But if they can take the approach that these regulations are the same for everyone and ‘we're going to do a better job than anyone else, we just won't be two seconds faster, we'll be two-tenths faster’ – that's what we want from Formula 1.”

More Detail
  • The removal of some driver aids on the cars is being evaluated ahead of October
  • A reduction of car-to-pit telemetry is also being investigated
  • It’s been proposed that a driver has a much more prominent role in managing car issues like overheating and tyre wear during the race, rather than having their race engineers coach them through those issues
Cars that make you go 'wow'
Formula 1 cars need to represent the pinnacle of single-seater engineering, but they also need to be something much more basic: they need to be sexy. And so, while lap time is key, making the 2021 F1 car deserving of a spot on a fan’s bedroom wall has been judged to be just as important.

“We do aim for the final product to be aesthetically pleasing,” says Tombazis. “To be a car that promotes a certain amount of passion and a certain ‘wow factor’, so we want that to be part of the new Formula 1.”

With that in mind, while development of the prototype 2021 car is obviously far down the road at this point, there are still some refinements set to be made before October.

“The front wing, we're still not completely pleased about,” says Tombazis, “both from an aerodynamic point of view and from an aesthetic point of view. So we're trying to make it a bit better in both aspects. There's good reasons why the wing is very wide aerodynamically, but we all will appreciate that it's not the best aesthetic result, so there's work going on there.”

Helping to inform that, meanwhile, will be consultation with F1 fans themselves, something that’s unique in the history of the sport.

“That's never been done before,” says Brawn. “So understanding from the fans what it is that turns them on about Formula 1, and also talking to the fans who've stopped watching or don't watch – why don't they watch, what's stopped?

“So the fans are quite a big part of setting the direction of Formula 1.”

More Detail
  • The FIA and Formula 1 will work with an automotive stylist to translate important design features on the car into the technical regulations
  • Along with the cars, the type of circuits that Formula 1 races at will also be analysed, with the new race in Vietnam set to be a first test of “a new philosophy of where we should take Formula 1,” according to Brawn
F1 2021 regulations 2.jpg

Financially viable championship
Not only are the FIA and Formula 1 looking to impose budget caps and tighter financial regulations for 2021 – they also want teams to simply be able to go racing for less money, with a number of potential cost-reducing elements already identified.

They include
  • Standardised wheel rims
  • A standardised brake system
  • A ban on hydraulic suspension systems
  • A restriction on the use of certain exotic materials
  • Standardised radiators
  • A frozen specification of gearbox parameters
  • Standardised pit equipment for all teams
All of the above are being discussed for inclusion in the 2021 regulations, while less tangible things like a reduction of time allowed in the wind tunnel could also play a part in preventing financial might being the be-all-and-end-all in F1.

On top of that, cost controls are set to be put in place to limit the size of teams, with the goal again to stop the big teams out-muscling the smaller ones with superior resources.

“The great teams will still be the great teams,” says Brawn. “But in all the marginal gains that they do where they have 10 people on a project instead of two, which brings 5% more performance – they won't do that anymore. They can't, or if they do, they'll be losing out in other areas where perhaps they could perhaps be making better gains.”

More detail
  • It’s been proposed that that drivers’ salaries and the salaries of a small number of key team personnel wouldn’t be included in the cost control
  • Marketing activities probably wouldn’t be restricted under the cost control either as, according to Brawn, “that's good for Formula 1, that's good for everyone”

Information and images from the F1 website article (original article here)
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Tire blankets will also be banned in 2021. I am really intrigued by the big changes this will make too. Running on truly cold tires after pit stops will have a huge effect on race strategy!

And I hope the new 18" Pirellis are improved in their temperature sensitivity. I wonder how careful the drivers will need to be about bringing the tires up to temperature on track to keep them within a certain temperature progression target (while also trying to defend against cars with hot tires)
 
not a fan of standardized everything. and will taking away the importance of aerodynamics not benefit teams with the best engine even more?

I hate the Mercedes Snoozefest more than anyone, but i dont think aero is the solution.
I would actually say open up the rules alot more so then we might see a genius at a small team surprise everyone.
 

BP

Premium
The spending gap between the top teams and the rest they are attempting to address, so that's good I guess? Even though if any team (but especially Mercedes) continues to dominate after that, people will still whine that it's not enough so...we'll see.

Aside from that, I'm not gonna be another armchair physicist/strategist and profess to know what's right and wrong for the next F1 car...let's give them a chance and see what happens before condemning it.

But this is RACEDEPARTMENT and that surely won't happen, so it's popcorn time! :whistling:

giphy.gif
 
I love the bit about reducing the influence of the pit / technicians / engineers during the race. It should be the driver's job to call the shots, not anyone we as viewers do not see on the screen. Also, the pitiful blabla we have to listen to between driver and pit should no longer be accessible by the public, it's pathetic on average.
 
I hope that the ground effect creates racing like in IndyCar, where following close isn't hard. This might even make the DRS less needed and eventually removed. Now days it's mostly a "keeping up" device more than a "passing" device, they have huge problems passing even with DRS, and most of the times they only get within almost striking distance. I think that ground effect has been banned for pity reasons, Bernie said no in the 80s and that was the end of it.

I think some standardised units is needed and good for the sport, such as gearboxes and brakes, since all use pretty much the same stuff anyway, so no need in developing their own for lots of money. Engines, aero and suspension needs to still be developed by the teams to keep the "feeling" of the sport, since it has always been about different teams creating the best solutions for the task.

I also think the steering servo should go, or at least be reduced. Not because I want the racing to be like "the good ol' days" (I'm born '97, so I have no nostalgia about that stuff) but because I think driver fatigue is important. I think that the driving is to easy from a physique point of view. I want the one of the limiting factors to be who can cope giving max speed through every corner the most. Now the two most limiting factors is fuel and tires, i.e. the car. I want the driver to also be a limit, so that you can't push the car 100% all the time because you are to tired. Felix Rosenqvist (not F1, i know) said that Super Formula is easier than Indy because of the servo, the G-forces isn't as tiring the having to wrestle the car around every turn. Now, I might be 100% wrong about this, but I think that it would make the racing more about the driver and less about the which team can put the most money in to develop the ultimate car.

One thing I'm quite certain on though it that F1 needs to stop trying to be so many different things. You can't be the finest series in racing, the pinnacle of engineering and ingenuity and at the same time give close racing every race-weekend. Let some of it go (and it looks like the "the pinnacle of engineering and ingenuity" is going) and focus on on or two things. IndyCar has no real ingenuity since all is driving almost the same car (they can engineer the suspension and has two engines to choose from), but great and tight racing, LMP isn't super close racing but is about developing insane, different cars that can cope 24 hours of racing.

I really hope that the new rules generate racing in class with Austria and the UK, they where great races (first 20 of Silverstone was really good). Yea, it will have it's bad races, but all sports do. Football games disappoints fans, hockey can have dull games and so on. But we need to have more highs and lows, not like now when a good race is a surprise and happens like 5 times per season.

Now this is a wall of text, and I have drunk some alcohol (I have summer break atm, so don't worry just becasue I'm drinking on a Wednesday), so it might just be gibberish.

But a short TD;DR: I think this is good, I think F1 should try to be one or two things and not everything like now, and I hope that in 2021-2022 we can enjoy Redbull Ring and Silverstone kind of racing most of the season and not just like 5 times per season.
 
I love the bit about reducing the influence of the pit / technicians / engineers during the race. It should be the driver's job to call the shots, not anyone we as viewers do not see on the screen. Also, the pitiful blabla we have to listen to between driver and pit should no longer be accessible by the public, it's pathetic on average.

I'm loving this bit as well. Hulkenberg's frustration on the radio after last race quickly comes to mind. He said something like "you guys just need to trust me sometimes, if I say the tires are bad it's because they are bad, don't tell me they're fine".
 

Ghoults

Lasse Luisu
Just look at that not so long chassis and wheelbase. Reading...
If you look at the current rule book the cars in those pictures have pretty short wheelbase as well. In reality the cars very long. Same with these pictures. As long as there is no maximum wheelbase in the rules the teams will always want to make the cars as long as possible because it gives them more downforce from the floor. The longer the car the longer the floor which means more downforce.
 

Steve Bird

Come On Williams!
Premium
Get rid of DRS and let them use their skill to overtake. Currently they wait until they are in DRS zone and then push to pass..................boring! There's absolutely no way they are going to risk a 'lunge' down the inside as long as they have DRS. It's an easy pass with no risk.....and ultimately boring.

At the very least give them 10 Push to Pass activations and that's it. Then they must use it wisely.
 
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"A reduction of car-to-pit telemetry is also being investigated" <--this doesn't sound like much, but it would be a BIG one, a game changer.

I wonder what "driver aids" they're talking about though. Maybe something with power management / braking recuperation?
 

Nick Gregory

iRating is just a number
I think that ground effect has been banned for pity reasons, Bernie said no in the 80s and that was the end of it.

It was banned because the downforce created was getting to much for what the cars could handle, and it was also getting too dangerous because of the porpoising and if a car lost one of the skirts.
 

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