How a change in priorities is making F1 stronger

Nothing could ever offset the humanitarian disaster that COVID-19 has presented to every aspect of our lives, but the strength of a civilised society is seen in its response to a crisis. Be it financial, medical or societal, there are many examples where adversity has been a precursor to an emergence into a leaner, fitter and more efficient way of doing things.

So it has come to pass in Formula 1 too. After the full impact of events in Melbourne hit home, both FOM and the FIA began working to see what could be done not just to survive the short-term effects of the virus but to seize the opportunity to bring Formula 1 back in a manner that would be more sustainable for the teams as well as providing the fans with the best possible spectacle under the inevitably difficult circumstances that the 2020 season was going to present.

The result was in effect a 'new deal' for F1 with 23 specific changes and a multitude of sub-changes within these broader headlines. There was also a commitment to continue the work and develop ideas and themes further as the year and season progresses.

Certain emergency operational provisions were introduced specifically to deal with infection control, but more fundamental were the changes made that will have far reaching, and I believe extremely beneficial, effects on our sport.

The first aim was to protect the teams from the direct effect of the inevitable loss of income that the shortened season would bring. A team's budget has many facets: a large part is spent on building the cars themselves and upgrading them as the season progresses.

With everything ready to go in Australia in March, a fair proportion of the car build budget was already spent and thoughts were already turning to the very different requirements, and hence investment in, the new regulations for 2021.

It was therefore a no-brainer to delay that car for a year and introduce it for 2022 instead. That is not to say that the need for a car that could potentially level the playing field and allow closer racing went away, it has not. But priorities have changed.

Such is the competitive instinct of F1 teams that a simple delay would have just allowed those with money to invest it in developing a 2021 car even if the regulations were not to change. This led to a decision to freeze a large list of components between 2020 and 2021. These included major structures such as the chassis and gearbox but with some limited ability, using a token system, to make changes associated with team's specific need - such as McLaren's impending switch back to Mercedes engines.

This is the first time there has ever been any form of balance of performance (as opposed to equivalency of different regulations) in F1, and although very mild it should both save money and bring the field closer together

Remaining on the technical front, aerodynamic changes were not encompassed in the freeze but the existing aerodynamic test restrictions were tightened further - by 20% - for this season. More significantly, they will be tightened further still for 2021, while also applying differently to different teams based on their finishing positions in the championship.

The winner of the 2020 constructors' title will be allowed 36 windtunnel runs a week, a significant reduction from the 65 runs previously allowed. A sliding scale results in the team finishing tenth in the championship being allowed 45 runs per week.

To keep things close, the allocation is reset depending on championship positions on 30 June to reflect the current state of competitiveness. For 2022, further reductions will be made for all teams, resulting in the championship leader dropping to just 28 runs per week.

This is the first time there has ever been any form of balance of performance (as opposed to equivalency of different regulations) in F1, and although very mild it should both save money and bring the field closer together. How much closer is the unanswered question, but with a stable set of rules I would expect a team to gain just over one point of downforce per 100 tunnel runs.

In 2021, this will be amplified as teams enter the steep learning curve that the new 2022 regulations bring, and the difference could be double this. In 2021, the regulations give the tenth-placed team an extra 400 runs over the leading team during the year which could yield between an additional six to eight points of downforce. At an average circuit this translates to up to 0.15 seconds a lap.

In 2022, the difference in runs will be doubled but the rate of development will slow down. I would still expect to see the tenth placed team able to add 0.2 seconds of additional performance over the year compared with the leaders. Not insignificant, but also not game changing in the overall competitiveness we have seen over the past few years.

Like the chassis, further restrictions have been put on power unit development, by limiting the number of upgrades allowed during the season, to both the hardware and the engine software, and, for the first time, by introducing limitations on the number of hours that can be spent on dynamometers developing the engine. These restrictions mimic in many ways the aerodynamic test restrictions that were introduced in 2009.

Finally, but probably most significantly, while the 2021 technical regulations were delayed by a year, the financial ones were not. The previously agreed $175m cap on spend for performance and operational costs has been lowered to $145m for 2021, reducing further to $135m for 2023 onwards which, encouragingly, is below the $150m first proposed to the teams in Bahrain in 2018.

Formula 1 has experienced some unprecedented and unforeseen challenges over the past six months. A combination of vision, strong governance and a spirit of cooperation among all stakeholders, which has been stronger than anything I have seen previously in my 40-year career, will allow us to emerge from this crisis better able to meet the challenges that lie ahead.