Formula 1 has unveiled its concept cars for the 2021 regulations, with Ross Brawn commenting that he wants the machines to “look better than what you see in a video game”.
Formula 1 officials have been undertaking research and analysis for the next cycle of technical regulations.
A strong emphasis has been on the reduction of dirty air, thus enabling a following car to retain more of its downforce, in turn enhancing the quality and quantity of the racing.
Under current regulations, Formula 1 cars lose around 50 per cent of their downforce while in dirty air, a statistic Brawn hopes will reduce to 20 per cent under the proposed concept.
Other elements that have been worked on include a more aesthetic implementation of the halo, with the device also set for refinement in 2021.
A more stylistically aggressive approach, and the anticipated switch to 18-inch wheels in 2021, has also been developed on the concept ideas that was shown on Friday.
“When we started looking at the 2021 car, the primary objective was to enable the cars to race well together,” said Formula 1 Director of Motorsports Brawn.
“What we established early on in our research is the cars we have now are very bad in following each other.
“Once the cars get within a few car lengths of each other, they lose 50 per cent of their downforce. That’s a substantial amount of performance lost.
“So we set about understanding why that was and how we can improve it. I’m pleased to say we’re at about 80 per cent [downforce retention].
“As time has gone on, another of the primary objectives was to make great looking cars.
“We want cars that look better than what you see in a video game, cars that kids want to have up on their walls. At each stage, as we have been evolving the car, we’ve had someone we are working with create a graphic representation artist to give us a feel of what the car could look like.
“That is not to control the development, because it’s critical this development achieves its objectives, but why shouldn’t we have great looking cars as we’re evolving the cars? We want a car that is inspiring. F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and the car should look sensational.”
Another year of research and development is planned with the aim of having the framework in place by the end of 2019.
“We want to create an environment where there is a queue of people wanting to join F1,” added Brawn.
“The encouraging thing when Force India ran into trouble was that it had a number of suitors that wanted to buy it.
“If you remember Manor a few years previously couldn’t sell the team. I think the confidence in F1 has since increased. We definitely want to have a queue of people that want to come into F1.”
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