Formula 1 bosses and teams agree 2021 rules publication delay

As reported by Autosport earlier this week, the FIA had invited teams to a get together at its headquarters to try to break the deadlock over the signing off of plans for the 2021 rules overhaul.

While there had been some support for draft proposals presented to teams before the Canadian Grand Prix, there remained cause for concern about several areas of the proposals.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto had suggested that the rules were "really green and not mature enough to be voted on".

Those worries prompted a series of meetings over the Montreal weekend to discuss what to do next, with the FIA aware that under its Sporting Code it needed to publish the rules before the end of this month unless teams unanimously backed a delay.

Attempts to garner that unanimous support over the Canadian GP weekend failed, with Renault in particular concerned that any delay would open the door to the big teams having more time to soften rule changes.

But following the meeting in Paris - which included technical chiefs, Pirelli, current drivers Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg and ex-F1 racer turned Grand Prix Drivers' Association chairman Alexander Wurz - a consensus was reached to accept a delay.

A statement issued by F1 said the agreement to hold back publication of the final rules until the end of October was approved unanimously.

It said: "While the FIA Formula 1 World Championship's key stakeholders feel the core objectives outlined for the future set of regulations have been defined, in the interests of the sport it was agreed that the best outcome will be achieved by using the extra time for further refinement and additional consultation.

"Furthermore, following today's first meeting featuring the aforementioned stakeholders, a series of additional meetings will be held over the coming months."

The presence of drivers was significant, as there have been growing calls from them to have a bigger input into rules to try to make the racing better.

Speaking in Canada last weekend, Max Verstappen said the GPDA was eager to help in a bid to make sure F1 made the right choices.

"We try to indicate what we want," he said. "I think that this has also given us wider cars and more speed.

"But we don't agree with how the downforce is generated. So we are trying to give feedback on that."