2022 Regulatory Overhaul (a.k.a. Project Death to Dirty Air/DRS-free Overtaking)

[Chrill]

Elimination style qualifying, then. What was that, as recently as 2016? It was removed after two races, when they brought back the Q3 setup which quite frankly we all like.

[Penfold]

Exactly.  Whenever there's a story on some new proposal to mess around with qualifying, so pretty much once a year, what you get is comment after comment from fans pleading with them to leave it alone.  Do they listen?  Do they heck....

Qualifying races on Saturday is one option now under consideration: https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/13/f1-teams-yet-to-agree-on-plan-to-test-saturday-races-in-2020/

Good grief.

[Chrill]

I wouldn't mind them trialling it, as long as they do so and then let fans vote after 2-3 rounds. Just because something works doesn't mean it cannot be improved, right? Let's run it for 3 weekends near the end of 2020, and let us fans vote to see whether we prefer the 3-part qualifying or the new format. They have the platform for it, https://www.f1fanvoice.com/

[Penfold]

It'd be a tiny, tiny minority of fans that would bother to vote.  I mean, the result would probably be against any change because it's the F1 diehards that are likely to be doing the voting, but I'm not sure having a core of fans dictate F1's future will appeal to the FIA.  That's not to say that these diehards wouldn't do a better job than the idiots in charge - for God's sake give us a vote on how many engines are allowed each year - but I can't imagine the FIA accepting any vote as binding unless it tallies with their own opinion.

If the Saturday format is altered perhaps they could have a pre-qualifying for the qualifying races; or maybe have pre-pre-qualifying to set the grid for a pre-qualifying race which determines the starting order of the final qualifying race.

[Penfold]

This has to be one for the 'I'll believe it when I see it' file, but we now have a second outfit champing at the bit to join F1's revamped 2021 circus: https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/03/second-potential-new-f1-team-for-2021-emerges-naming-wehrlein-as-potential-driver/

Good if it happens, but certainly not holding my breath on either them or Panthera making the grid.

[Penfold]

F1's crazy plan for reverse-order qualifying races is not quite dead but it is teetering on the edge after failing to secure the teams' unanimous support: https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/16/qualifying-races-plan-fails-to-gain-full-support-of-teams/

For me, the ability of a driver to pull everything out of a car over a single lap is an integral part of the racing weekend, I don't get the interest in watching a race on Sunday with a fake grid resulting from a qualifying race which itself has an artificial starting order.  Then there's the inherent risk in putting all the slowest cars & drivers at the front of a grid - and the FIA thinks Spa should be one of the three test races!

[Matt]

Personally, I think single-car, single-lap qualifying like we had in the early/mid-2000s makes for the best races. You have to get your one lap right, any mistake will cost you. It's fair and naturally results in some different grids, unlike today's qualifying where you get multiple laps. That's fair but predictable.

The negatives are that it's not as exciting to watch and some people think it can lead to unfair track condition differences. On the first issue, that's true, but I think making qualifying a "show" often makes the race worse, but it's the race that matters. But the sport and networks want big ratings for everything. On the second issue, this can be true, although it's rare, but if you just run the qualifying order by points position, then the chances that you'll have significantly different track conditions than the people you're actually racing are exceptionally slim.

[Penfold]

... but if you just run the qualifying order by points position, then the chances that you'll have significantly different track conditions than the people you're actually racing are exceptionally slim.

Yep.  Too bad they only ever ran first qualifying in Championship order and then used the times from that session to determine Q2 running - with the slowest being sent out first.  I was trying to remember the intervals at which they sent out each car... was it every so many minutes, or was it when the previous car had completed its timed lap?

[Penfold]

Good news for people who love bad news: The FIA is considering placing a limit on the number of brake discs/pads that a driver can use in a season, with grid penalties for exceeding the limit: https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/31/f1-drivers-could-get-grid-penalties-for-brake-changes-in-2021/

[Chrill]

I'd say that is a silly move by FIA, but not a very big one in the grand scheme of things. Let's focus on the new cars!

They'll look OK (when you remove the over-the-top gloss on the promo images), there is room for variation in the rules that they published, and most importantly they should remove the need for DRS due to the ability of driving close behind another car!

https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/31/analysis-whats-new-in-the-2021-f1-regulations/

Also, cars should be able to look a bit differently since they have opened up some areas to be interpreted differently:
https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/31/fia-new-2021-f1-rules-wont-force-all-cars-to-look-the-same/

All in all, I'm very positive to the 2021 regulations, but not everyone is:
DONT MAKE EM SLOW, says Vettel: https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/31/f1-shouldnt-go-back-to-slow-cars-says-vettel/
DONT CARE ABOUT SLOW IF THE RACING IS GOOD, says Kimi and Ricciardo: https://www.racefans.net/2019/11/01/raikkonen-if-the-racing-is-better-no-one-would-care-if-were-10-seconds-slower/

FIA estimates a 3-second loss with the new cars over an average lap, but with the development race raging I think we won't lose that much. Maybe 1-1.5 seconds per lap for 2021, which will mostly be made back up by 2022.

[Penfold]

So long as the dirty air issue is resolved I don't much care about their appearance - or about losing a few seconds of ultimate pace -  but as it happens the basic design looks just fine to me.  This link has pics of the wind tunnel model, so none of that over-the-top promo gloss to peer through: https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/31/f1-presents-its-new-car-for-the-2021-season/

[Matt]

The problem is that the fast lap times are directly related to not being very raceable. The shorter the braking zone, the harder it is to get alongside, and the faster the corner speed, the harder it is to race side-by-side.

With two years for the teams to ruin the FIA's plans of less reliance on body aero, I think the predicted time difference needed to be bigger if they expect this to work at all.

I also mostly disagree with Vettel. The cars were still the fastest in the world, which is what makes them F1 cars. The speed difference isn't particularly visible with the newer cars anyway. I don't believe anyone who says they can visibly see the difference without a direct side-by-side comparison, it's a placebo effect because you already know they're faster.

[Chrill]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/honda-reduce-spending-future-2021/4602421/

Honda is flirting with leaving F1 after 2020 if the costs are too high for engine development. Red Bull's 3 wins this year will surely push Honda closer to remaining, but the cost is the main issue.

[Penfold]

No great changes for engines post 2020 (aside from restrictions on R&D) so hopefully they'll stick around for a bit longer yet.

[Penfold]

Well, they're sticking around for 2021 anyway: https://www.racefans.net/2019/11/27/red-bull-confirm-new-honda-deal-for-2021/