F1 2021 Regulation changes

[rdjohn]

HustleRussell said:

25kg heavier at 768kg. Nearly as heavy as a Formula E car. Maximum wheel base of 3,600mm.

We seem to have moved from 650kg to 768kg in less than a decade.

Well, it is the age of obesity.

[ajprice]

rdjohn said:

HustleRussell said:

25kg heavier at 768kg. Nearly as heavy as a Formula E car. Maximum wheel base of 3,600mm.

We seem to have moved from 650kg to 768kg in less than a decade.

Well, it is the age of obesity.

Some of that will be hybrid system motors and batteries. 18 inch wheels will weigh about 4kg each more than 13s, the halo is going to weigh at least 10kg. Other crash protection is going to be more than there was 10 years ago.

There's a maximum wheelbase of 3600mm, the current cars wheelbase are slightly over that, so the cars won't get any longer than they are now.

[vaud]

rdjohn said:

We seem to have moved from 650kg to 768kg in less than a decade.

Well, it is the age of obesity.

And to over 1000hp and gained 10%+ energy efficiency..

[TheDeuce]

Parce ferme enforced from the start of FP3 will be interesting. A small change they've slipped in with fairly big implications

[cholo]

No changes to PU though.

Hate it how they promise to improve things and then just hope we all forget.

There was talk for ages of increased rev limit/fuel flow and deletion of mguh.

Obviously none of it happened, so Merc and Ferrari got their way.

Even just increased fuel flow alone would have been nice, so they can try and get a bit closer to the 15k rev limit.

[Evangelion]

Well anyone who's ever read any of my posts will know I object to anything that doesn't include complete removal of the wings.

Having said that, t's good to see a (partial) comeback of ground effect, but does anyone know if there's anything in the rules to prevent someone slipping a fan car past the scrutes?

(As I'd love to see one.)

[TheDeuce]

Evangelion said:

Well anyone who's ever read any of my posts will know I object to anything that doesn't include complete removal of the wings.

Having said that, t's good to see a (partial) comeback of ground effect, but does anyone know if there's anything in the rules to prevent someone slipping a fan car past the scrutes?

(As I'd love to see one.)

No chance of a fan car now I'm afraid. It would require the breaking of all sorts of modern regs to get as far as hulking great fan slapped on the back of the car - hover craft style

That said, now the engineers know they have shift more focus back to ground effect, I have no doubt some clever exploits will be found and some cars will achieve considerably more than others, at least for the first year or two.

[baptistsan]

I must be the only one who doesn't like the look of that

[TheDeuce]

baptistsan said:

I must be the only one who doesn't like the look of that

Probably

[Derek Smith]

I prefer the new front wing.

I was at Mercedes-Benz World a week or so ago and they had a newish Merc F1 there. The front wing was a work of art. I'd hang it on a wall, but it looked out of proportion and much too fussy.

[Bradgate]

Sky’s coverage of the new regulations is rubbish. There is absolutely no technical content whatsoever, no explanation of the new aerodynamic concepts, no data, no figures, nothing.

They assume their presenters have zero technical understanding and they assume their audience are idiots.

[HustleRussell]

cholo said:

No changes to PU though.

Hate it how they promise to improve things and then just hope we all forget.

There was talk for ages of increased rev limit/fuel flow and deletion of mguh.

Obviously none of it happened, so Merc and Ferrari got their way.

Even just increased fuel flow alone would have been nice, so they can try and get a bit closer to the 15k rev limit.

I get that you want them to sound better but they floated a bunch of proposals in an attempt to court new manufacturers but none would commit.

The sport has developed a technologically incredible power unit and we have four manufacturers supplying ten teams (for now). What is wrong with that?

The performance of those four engine manufacturers has been converging for six years and we are now within about 5% of parity. Do you really think changing them is a good idea?

These regs are all about bringing the performance closer not re-setting us to 2014 at vast expense and ending up with only two or three engine manufacturers, one of which would inevitably steal a march and ps off into the distance for five years.

[Tyre Smoke]

That car looks a LOT like a current IndyCar.

[HustleRussell]

HustleRussell said:

25kg heavier at 768kg. Nearly as heavy as a Formula E car. Maximum wheel base of 3,600mm.

Brundle agrees!

[Evangelion]

25 races a year is very nearly one every other week. So when you take into account that some of them are 3 weeks apart, and that there is a break of several weeks in the summer, and one of several months in the winter, then an awful lot of races are going to end up on adjacent weekends.

[vaud]

Evangelion said:

25 races a year is very nearly one every other week. So when you take into account that some of them are 3 weeks apart, and that there is a break of several weeks in the summer, and one of several months in the winter, then an awful lot of races are going to end up on adjacent weekends.

I can't see how it is going to work without destroying some teams. Many will need effectively two teams of mechanics to allow for rotation without burnout/more divorces.

Sadly I think we might see some leaving the sport ahead of this change.

I am slightly surprised they didn't go for a 2 day race weekend with just and FP1, FP2 on the Sat and then quali and the race on Sunday. That would have given 25 days back to the teams for logistics and made 25 races more viable?

[TheDeuce]

vaud said:

I can't see how it is going to work without destroying some teams. Many will need effectively two teams of mechanics to allow for rotation without burnout/more divorces.

Sadly I think we might see some leaving the sport ahead of this change.

I am slightly surprised they didn't go for a 2 day race weekend with just and FP1, FP2 on the Sat and then quali and the race on Sunday. That would have given 25 days back to the teams for logistics and made 25 races more viable?

Same for everyone though - which in general F1 terms means it's not a problem, even if it's a ballache for the guys on the road.

They have also removed Thursday duties from the teams so they have an extra 24 hours (in theory) to move people around and prepare for the weekend.

I think we'll just see the teams rotate staff. 3 races on, one race off and it would work from most people's work/life balance well enough I guess. It would basically be just over two weeks away and just under two weeks at home for each person, every 4 races - assuming back to back. A lot of work, sure - but they will cope.

[DanielSan]

TheDeuce said:

Parce ferme enforced from the start of FP3 will be interesting. A small change they've slipped in with fairly big implications

What's the point of having a practice session if you can't make changes to the cars? They'll have cars barely going out on track to save engine life.

[TheDeuce]

DanielSan said:

What's the point of having a practice session if you can't make changes to the cars? They'll have cars barely going out on track to save engine life.

To practice for quali of course

Otherwise it would more accurately be describes as an R&D or setup session.

[BelfastBlack]

Are the curfew rules new or is there already someone similar in existence? It made me think of all the times we hear that the mechanics are up all night getting a new car rebuilt after a FP/quali crash so they can go racing. For example, under the new rules would Bottas' crash last week have put him out of the race?