Tomorrow's world

After many months of speculation the definitive technical, sporting and financial Formula 1 regulations for 2021 and beyond have now been released. But what will all this mean for the F1 teams and for the quality of the show? Racecar investigates

- GEMMA HATTON

The time for speculation is over. The F1 2021 technical, sporting and financial regulations have now been released and include some of the biggest changes seen in F1’s recent history.

The objectives behind this new batch of rules was to create a competitive grid filled with financially sustainable teams whose cars could battle out on track, whilst showcasing road relevant and eco-friendly technologies. A tough ask for the FIA, but one that has been supported by a wealth of research and experience from both F1 and the teams. In fact, this collaborative effort has made the research into the 2021 regulations the most in-depth to date.

Thinking cap But what have they come up with? Well the biggest change is undoubtedly the cost cap. Each team only has $175m to play with for 21 races +/- $1m for each race above or below that. As expected, there are several exclusions to this including marketing costs, driver salaries, FIA entry fee and super licence costs, as detailed in November’s Racecar (V29N11).

‘The financial regulations are a dramatic change for F1,’ says Ross Brawn, managing director of motosports at Formula 1. ‘I think the crucial thing about the financial regulations now is that they are part of the FIA regulations so the sanctions of breaching the financial regs will incur sporting penalties depending on the severity of the breach. Whereas before we had the resource restriction agreement which was a gentlemen’s agreement with the teams. Well there’s not many gentlemen in the paddock, I’m afraid, and that was a failure.