F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports and you’ll be seeing the most cutting edge technology powering these open wheel racers to the absolute limits. But to see the same team winning and the same ones stuck in behind gets a bit boring overtime and the FIA aims to implement measures to change all that.
With the aim of creating a level playing field, the FIA has approved a new reduced cost cap which was also agreed by the teams. Instead of $175m per year, the cap for 2021 is further lowered to $145m, with further reductions in the following years. This new reduced cost cap was brought in as a response to the coronavirus pandemic which had seriously affected the finances of the teams.
A new sliding scale for aero development will also be introduced which will be implemented on 2021 onwards. The concept of this one is pretty simple: the lower the team finishes in the constructors’ championship, the more wind tunnel time they will be allowed in to develop their next year’s car. This is to give the lower teams a chance to keep up and also preventing the bigger teams gaining too much advantage.
The FIA had also approved a measure to limit downforce on 2021 cars where teams will have to trim part of the floor to reduce the downforce created. Other moves implemented with the pursuit of cost cutting and promoting sustainability include freezing some components like the chassis and gearbox between 2020 and 2021, limiting the number of upgrades allowed in a season, and increasing the minimum weight of the car from by 3kg to 749kg.
