2021 F1 regulations target closer racing: Update!
Ross Brawn wants to make F1 cars "more raceable" - but claims they will remain the fastest on the planet
UPDATE - 11.03.2019
Formula 1's 2021 regulations willl have a drastic impact on racing thanks to a heavy reduction in 'dirty air' produced by each car. That's the opinion of the sport's managing director, Ross Brawn, who told Motorsport.com that current cars lose half their aerodynamic performance when following within two car lengths of another.
"The car we have [in the works] now, you lose 10 per cent of the performance," he said. "So it's a huge improvement over where we are today."
The new aerodynamic regulations suggest Brawn is pushing for racing without the need for DRS, something the former Ferrari technical mastermind has previously stated was his intention. Brawn dismissed comments that F1 could cut downforce and rely more on mechanical grip to boost racing.
"We don't want to lose the speed of the Formula 1 car," he said. "We want it to be the fastest racing car on the planet, the most impressive racing car on the planet - and you can only do that by harnessing the aerodynamic performance.
"So I don't think we can take a simplistic view and just get rid of all the downforce and think that'll solve it. What we need is the downforce to be delivered in a way that cars can race each other."
Brawn also said that racing quality, rather than the number of overtakes, was how he measures success, stating that "close racing and the ability of cars to run behind each other and run side-by-side and get close to attack is the thing that everyone gets excited about".
Do you agree? Would you rather see fewer overtakes, but with each of a higher quality in a DRS-free world, or does F1 need a high volume of passes to entertain? You know the drill...
ORIGINAL STORY - 14.09.2018
It's fair to say there's a certain amount of consternation about contemporary F1 cars; specifically the relatively limited opportunities they seem to offer for overtaking and close, fast, racing.
To address those concerns, F1 has revealed these designs for new cars in the 2021 season. Shown today at the Singapore Grand Prix, all three represent collaborations between Ross Brawn and the FIA; Brawn saying that by the beginning of next decade every entrant will incorporate cues from all three.
Encouragingly, the former Ferrari technical director has confirmed that the main aim of the new design rules will indeed be to ensure drivers can follow each other more closely. "With the current cars, when they get to within two to three car lengths, they can lose 50 per cent of performance, the tyres degrade more and it becomes very challenging. At the moment we have (new) designs that only lose 20 per cent - maintain 80 per cent."
The most notable change in all three concepts is the introduction of fairings near the wheels to improve the airflow, with cars for 2019 already set to include changes to the front wings based on similar principles. Interestingly, Brawn reckons that next year's cars will be slower than the current ones as a result, though conceded that the existing rate of progress could have made them dangerously fast: "The cars are pretty impressive now but if they continue to develop at the rate they're developing there will be a need to pull it back," he said.
Of the three, the third concept is the one most closely related to the current F1 cars, with the other silver car (Concept 1) representing a more futuristic ideal - see the cleaner halo incorporation and more intricate spoiler. Concept 2 is a bit more extreme than 1, described on the F1 site as "more refined and stylistically more aggressive."
Clearly there's a way to go before the full design rules are finalised, let alone till these cars hit the racetrack, but 2021 will be here before you know it. If the cars really can look like this and improve the racing, then it can't come soon enough!
PHers are already discussing the new look F1 cars - join the chat here.
I'm interested to see how this goes, brawn imo is the right guy to sort this and has the brief nailed. They can't make the cars slower as F1 needs to remain the pinnacle of motorsport. But the cars need to be able to follow closely, and without gimmicks like DRS, it needs to be inherent in the design / regulations
BTCC is where the real racing is at... or any touring car champ, or blancpain.
Reducing the disruption of airflow behind the cars seems like a good move if it can be achieved without compromising downforce too much. I get the thinking behind DRS but it has never sat that easy with me, it just seems a bit contrived and artificial even for F1.
I like the idea that the different teams are able to develop their cars in different ways under the given set of rules, the variation makes for interest, but only if there isn't a relatively large discrepancy in performance/lap time leading to positions being too stratified. Obviously if there is too much conformity to strict rules then you end up with very similar cars and maybe closer racing but it then becomes less interesting technically. There still needs to be some car that are faster than other cars.
Waking early on Sunday from jetlag I actually watched more or less the whole Formula E race from Hong Kong - whilst the "Fan Boost" and "Attack Mode" gimmicks were a bit annoying (IMHO) the racing itself was close, exciting and made for great viewing.
I completely get that they run at relatively slow speeds and have a lot less aero but having spent the last couple of years getting more interested in bike racing this restored my faith a little in 4 wheeled motorsport (even if they are all milk floats!).
I watch most F1 GP races during the season because I always have but the series really needs to improve the racing if it going to sustain a fan base.
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Agreed, but no matter how good the scope set out by Ross Brawn and his boffins, the bigger problem will be implementation, what with the FIA WMSC, the F1 strategy group & F1 commission, the latter two 'bodies' allowing the teams cartel style - to effectively veto any changes not in their direct interests, as you can see with Ferrari's multi B-team strategy.
- IIRC correctly Indycar is faster as is drag racing (at the highest level)
- as for impressive... it my not be everyone's kettle of fish but the top-fuelers are a different world to F1
- IIRC correctly Indycar is faster as is drag racing (at the highest level)
- as for impressive... it my not be everyone's kettle of fish but the top-fuelers are a different world to F1
- F1 - boring, money = wins, not enough real racing. Sky needed. Gave up years ago.
- TOCA - love it - LOVE the reverse grid on session 3 (F1 sponsors will never accept this idea) and the fast driver balast penalty - watching the best drivers have to fight through the whole field. Sorts the lucky from the great, give the underdogs a chance. Main downside is lack of charismatic drivers to want to support. They are mostly a bit dull. Love Plato's style but he's not currently that competetive in his car.
- MotoGP - loved it in the past with some of the greatest "dog fights" in any motorsport, but has been dominiated by one or two riders for long enough that I gave up 5 or 6 years ago.
F1 constantly adding new rules/gadgets to try and improve competitiveness/overtaking - I think they need to go back and look at the basics and try and fix them, instead of constantly "patching" it to try and fix it.
F1 is taking the right approach here; when a driver gets within range of the car in front and can activate the DRS, it makes it an almost 100% given that he'll take the position. This makes it "fixed" and takes away the excitement of motor-racing, which is the few laps a faster driver needs to take to calculate where he is that little bit faster and how he can exploit that. Many other motorsports manage to generate close running without the need for fancy gimmicks. Take the australian Supercars, for example - plenty of races that relied on driver cunning, team preparation and skillfull tactics to make overtakes and race wins. It's not the amount of overtaking, quite often it's an absolute treat to have someone leading by a decent margin for a chunk of the race, only for someone else to come good in the last 3rd and start hunting that leader down. The build up, the anticipation, then the stalking until finally, the big pounce. With any luck, the overtaken will respond and a good joust will ensue. These are the moments that make motorsport, not just pushing a button and flying past on the straight because you now have a 10 mph advantage.
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