Formula One has officially announced the regulations that will guide the sport from 2021 onward ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix over in Texas. From the sound of things, F1 is actually confirming the fact that it’s trying to make racing more accessible for everyone. But, most importantly, these cars look damn good.
The rules themselves are... pretty vague. From the press release:
From 2021 onward, Formula 1 will have:
Cars that are better able to battle on the track
A more balanced competition on the track
A sport where success is determined more by how well a team spends its money not how much it spends – including, for the first time, a fully enforceable cost cap ($175M per season) in the FIA rules
A sport that is a better business for those participating and more attractive to potential new entrants
A sport that continues to be the world’s premier motor racing competition and the perfect showcase of cutting-edge technology
That’s all pretty much corporate speak that doesn’t mean a whole lot of anything. The cost cap news is really neat—but again, doesn’t really mean a ton since the cap only covers money spent on things directly related to the car’s performance. It doesn’t, however, include marketing costs, driver salaries, or the salaries of the three highest-paid team personnel. I can already see enough wiggle room here for it to become yet another rule teams find creative ways to skirt.
But I think the one thing we can all immediately appreciate is how gorgeous this thing is:
The renders are great, displaying a sleek-looking car that is significantly less busy than the current models. There don’t seem to be a bunch of wild aero bits hanging out all over the place. And other teams are rendering their own livery design on the very basic body we’ve been given:
There will be plenty of time to dissect what all these “regulations” mean once actual rules are put into place. Until then, let’s just bask in the glory of this fine looking machine.