WHAT’S NEW FOR 2021?
Formula 1 should have been graced with an entirely new technical ruleset for 2021. The complex bargeboard packages and overreliance on external aerodynamics were set to be dropped for the venturi-effect underbody tunnels and simplified wings for the new year. But, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the delay of those regulations.
Instead, the 2021 cars will be largely the same as those used last year, barring aero tweaks and the structural changes to the chassis and suspension allowed by a token system. The retention of the regulations was largely a response to the hit that the teams took financially, as the first half of the year was laid to waste by the marauding virus around the world. Things only picked up in July, but the mandatory factory closures last year to preserve the future of the teams meant that the array of technical changes expected for this season was shuffled back a year to 2022.
With the expectation that Pirelli’s tyres – originally designed for the 2019 season and carried over for 2020 after a different construction was vetoed by the teams – would be kept on for another year, the FIA has forced the teams to pare down their floor constructions to reduce overall downforce. This reduction is expected to be around 10%, although the designers will surely find ways to claw some of that back.
