F1 | New 2021 Car Images and New Regulations Revealed

[Paul Jeffrey]

Time for change with today's presentation of the new 2021 Formula One car and regulations for the future of the sport.

Formula One motor racing is a constantly changing set of complex rules, regulations and interpretations - as has been the case with the sport right from the very first World Championship race at Silverstone almost 70 years ago. With the last few years having seen the introduction of hybrid power, reduced aerodynamic dependency and increased safety measures, often at the cost of on track action, the last few months have seen some intensive research and development by the power people behind Formula One racing - and the results of those investigations have been revealed today - with the presentation of the new for 2021 Formula One car and regulations.

According to F1.com, the key changes for Formula One 2021 style are as follows:

Better looking cars
2021 F1 cars will have a radical new design philosophy and striking new look - with sweeping bodywork, simplified front wings, bigger rear wings, increased underbody aerodynamics, wheel wake control devices, simplified suspension and low-profile tyres with 18-inch rims.

..... LED lights on the wheels.....

Yup, LED lights on the wheels. Because, according to F1, that would be cool. Hmmm. Maybe in a supermarket car park at 12am, but on a race track... I'm less convinced.

Changes that enable closer racing
Though aesthetics were a major consideration, the changes outlined above aren’t just cosmetic – over several years, both Formula 1 and the FIA have been working tirelessly to design cars that can race more closely.
Key to that was finding a solution to the loss of downforce that the current cars experience when running in another car’s wake. Running in dirty air behind another car, a 2019 machine could lose more than 40% downforce. But with the 2021 car design, this drops to around 5-10%, with airflow coming off the new cars both cleaner and directed higher, meaning it has significantly less impact on drivers following, giving them the chance not just to overtake, but to battle.

Fairer Finances
For the first time ever, Formula 1 will introduce spending restrictions to make the sport fairer and more sustainable. A cost cap will be set at $175m per team, per year, and applies to anything that covers on-track performance – but excludes marketing costs, the salaries of drivers, and of the top three personnel at any team.

The F1 cost cap will end the growing spending gap between F1’s big spenders and those with fewer resources, and the on-track performance differential this brings.

Fewer components and more standard parts
In addition to the new financial rules, there are some big changes to the technical and sporting regulations. Rules have been put in place to limit car upgrades over race weekends, and the number of in-season aero upgrades, reducing the costly development arms race that can result in a less competitive grid.

There will also be the introduction of certain standardised parts (such as fuel pumps), parts that must have a prescribed design (such as wheel covers), and increased restrictions on the number of times some components, like brake pads, can be replaced.

Power units remain the same as now, but exhaust systems have been added to the list of PU components that are limited in number per season, with each driver able to use six before penalty.

Cars will 25kg heavier as a result of the new tyres, changes in chassis and PU materials to save costs, further safety measures and the introduction of standardised and prescription parts. That will make cars slower than now to begin with.

Gearbox design will be more restricted, with configurations frozen to save research and development costs. Tyre blankets, meanwhile, will not be scrapped as once proposed, instead remaining for 2021 and 2022, albeit with restrictions.

Revised race weekends
There will also be small but significant changes to the race weekend structure, which will be condensed, in order to improve the fan experience and help teams deal with an expanded calendar, with the maximum number of races in a season now 25.

The pre-race press conference will be switched from Thursday to Friday, ahead of the first and second practice sessions, while cars will now be in parc ferme conditions (i.e. in race trim) from the start of FP3.

FP3 also marks the point at which the teams must return their cars to the ‘reference specification’ presented for scrutineering before FP1, so any bodywork trialled in practice must be removed.

Furthermore, all teams must run at least two practice sessions during the year using drivers who have completed two Grands Prix or fewer – giving more chance for the next generation to shine.

Less wind tunnel testing
In a further bid to reduce aero development costs, the number of wind tunnel runs teams can do each week has been slashed, with emphasis put on using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations over physical ones.

Other rules play into this. For example, the switch to low-profile tyres isn’t purely aesthetic. The high-profile tyres used in F1 at the moment tend to move around and deflect a lot, which has an impact on aerodynamics. The teams with the biggest budgets are able to look at these effects in detail and are better able to deliver solutions that give them an edge over others. A tyre with a stiffer side wall doesn’t move as much, simplifying the aerodynamics and thus reducing development investment.

So, plenty happening in the near future for Grand Prix fans. You can check out the full article on F1.com HERE.

If you like F1 racing, head over to the Formula One sub forum here at RaceDepartment to stay in touch with the sport, and your fellow Grand Prix fans.

Like what we do at RaceDepartment? Spread some love and give us a like/follow/share on Social Media!

Podcast fan? Don't forget to catch up with the latest happenings on your Podcast platform of choice! Just search 'RaceDepartment'.

Sim Racing is awesome!

 

[Miguel Muñiz]

Awesome, but the sound will still be like that of a vacuum cleaner, please F1 come back to this:

 

[farjam]

Almost 3.5 seconds slower per lap as they said themselves, but who cares they are slower if racing could be better as the result of these changes?
Also engine costs, "buying it or developing it" are excluded from the cost cap if i remember correctly, right?! it was like that in initial regs, they've changed it?

 

[GTSpeedster]

As long as mechanical grip and braking efficiency are not massively reduced, races will remain utterly terrible and boring.

There is a reason why damp conditions magically bring some life back to this walking corpse of a series.

On the other hand why bother? With a budget cap we're guaranteed success anyway, as all Socialist experiments are proven to achieve over the course of mankind's history.

 

[ears]

As long as mechanical grip and braking efficiency are not massively reduced, races will remain utterly terrible and boring.

There is a reason why damp conditions magically bring some life back to this walking corpse of a series.

On the other hand why bother? With a budget cap we're guaranteed success anyway, as all Socialist experiments are proven to achieve over the course of mankind's history.

So you concede that the sport is dying, but reject any attempts at change in order to revive it?

 

[Patrik Marek]

hmmm, so its' more about looking cool then being pinnacle of racing,
so sad that LMP1 is slowly transitioning out from WEC, that was some engineering !

 

[Enerjex]

Dang, spewing they're not doing anything with the engines. Understand if we're not getting v8/10/12 back and theoretically there's nothing wrong with a v6, but somehow they managed to make the worst sounding v6 in history, the F2 motor sounds far better even without the higher revs.

25kg heavier is also not great, the current gen cars are already too big and heavy compared to their nimble predecessors. Surely with the advances in hybrid technology they've made in the last 6 seasons they can make a smaller/lighter car again.

 

[Deleted member 113561]

hmmm, so its' more about looking cool then being pinnacle of racing,

Wrong, it is more about delivering a good show than looking cool. Additionally they are still the pinnacle of racing.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

Hey they are using AC in that video.

 

[Salvatore Sirignano]

So you concede that the sport is dying, but reject any attempts at change in order to revive it?

F1 to me died a long time ago. F1 will never again be purely about performance, but will instead be increasingly ruined by token gestures at saving the planet, and more gimmicks to please those with no attention span.
Never has F1 had so many manufacturers involved and pulling the strings, and what makes for a good spectacle isn't what sells their bland hybrid roadcars...

 

[FinFan]

LED lights on the wheels.
I finally know why I haven't watched any F1 in more than 10 years.

 

[GTSpeedster]

-removed-

 

[RichardHessels]

As long as mechanical grip and braking efficiency are not massively reduced, races will remain utterly terrible and boring.

There is a reason why damp conditions magically bring some life back to this walking corpse of a series.

On the other hand why bother? With a budget cap we're guaranteed success anyway, as all Socialist experiments are proven to achieve over the course of mankind's history.

Still if you want to have any competition the playing field needs to be a bit more even.
Especially in a technology - money driven sports.
Would be great to see another team on the podium after years of the big 3 claiming the podium every race. Making the cars cleaner will help too, what's not there does not need to be developed.

 

[ears]

I concede nothing. The man is sick and dying you say.

Actually, no - I was paraphrasing what you said.

There is a reason why damp conditions magically bring some life back to this walking corpse of a series.

 

[josap11]

The races have been pretty good this year and to use that as a reason to once again change everything goes against making it more even. Stable regulations make it more even not changing it every year.

I think the cars look horrendous and particularly the front and rear wings. The idea of bringing back ground effect is interesting but it would be a shame if that meant that all innovations are hidden underneath the cars. The drivers wanted the cars to be lighter, they became heavier. The privateer teams wanted different engines, they stayed the same. It seems very odd to me that you cannot change parts during the weekends, having parc fermé start at the beginning of the weekend. That would have made a lot of races less interesting last year with Ferrari only pulling it together for Q and R.

It also looks like DRS will be gone which would be interesting. I personally like DRS if it brings the car behind alongside towards the braking zone but it shouldn't be too OP and not having it should not hurt the racing. The LEDs could be interesting if integrated properly but it could also be very annoying and cheesy if they try too hard, but we will have to wait and see.

I also don't know about the longer seasons. Sure 25 races in a year could be interesting but I think the 20-21 we have now is pushing the limit. Loosing effectively 20 weekends in the year to go out and so something because you are a fan of a sport is very much on the limit but 25 would make it half the year which would be too much. To me, I think there should be a maximum of 16-17 races in a season.

Something related, F1 is not popular in the US. Maybe that is because they don't care and Liberty should just stop trying. Trying to make the sport more American will only piss off and alienate the current European fan base. It is not American and that is something we like. It is not American, most fans are not American just accept it.

 

[GTSpeedster]

Actually, no - I was paraphrasing what you said.

I said F1 is a walking corpse, keeping with the Halloween theme last night. You're the one who said it was still dying; "the sport is dying". I said it was dead already. So there you have it. "Dying, YOU say".

Pay closer attention while reading and interpreting your own language and quit nitpicking semantics out of having nothing else to say.

 

[ears]

I said F1 is a walking corpse, keeping with the Halloween theme. You're the one who said it was still dying; "the sport is dying". I said it was dead already. So there you have it. "Dying, YOU say".

Pay closer attention while reading and interpreting your own language and quit nitpicking semantics out of having nothing else to say.

Ah OK then. That makes it easier as now you're just plain wrong.

If something is dead, it is no longer alive. It ceases to exist. It does not operate.

F1 may have its issues, its critics - I'm one of them - but at least I have the common sense to realise that it still exists. It still operates.

It's not dead. Fact.

 

[josap11]

Ah OK then. That makes it easier as now you're just plain wrong.

If something is dead, it is no longer alive. It ceases to exist. It does not operate.

F1 may have its issues, its critics - I'm one of them - but at least I have the common sense to realise that it still exists. It still operates.

It's not dead. Fact.

You are right, it really isn't dead. If you look at the gaps between the cars and the competitiveness in the races in the past year (except France) it is a lot better than it has been. Formula One may well be in the best place it has ever been with the current regs. The biggest problem is the circuits (COTA, Sochi, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Hanoi and the like) and the fan base that is no longer able to watch the races. Not because they don't want to but because everything is hidden behind a pay wall. If they were to pay more attention to the latter and just show it on free TV as it used to be done, a lot of the popularity problems would be solved.

 

[GTSpeedster]

Formula One may well be in the best place it has ever been with the current regs.

George Orwell was a real prophet. 2+2 is finally 5.

 

[JPL083]

F1 is just making a joke from itself.. even more! Led lights on wheels? What the actual f........? And they want to keep current teams and want to get more of them to join in the series, for what? To make them look laughable and ridiculous?! Cars look better when simplified yes but not sure about that desing. Well i admit that there is a touch from end 80s or early 90s but.... This desing looks like a toy compared to the real racing machines from the past. So new toy desing, still garbage lawnmover sound, led lights where not needed, that stupid looking thing on the car, teenagers behind wheel.. Let me laugh. Where is true F1?! I give you the answer. Its gone for good, this might use the same name but it carries on only with it's history. Man and machine the past, boys and toys the future.