The necessary balancing act F1 performed to protect its teams
For too long, F1 teams have invested huge sums of money to find tiny improvements which are invisible to fans. PAT SYMONDS explains why F1 had to act to protect its competitors from themselves
After last year’s Australian Grand Prix was cancelled and the extent of the pandemic became more apparent, Formula 1’s Ross Brawn asked me to look at how we might protect the teams from what was undoubtably going to be a significant shortfall in their income.
I put together some proposals which we discussed with the FIA. These were centred around delaying the new and significantly different car from 2021 to 2022, and freezing a large part of the design of the 2020 cars through to the end of 2021. The thinking was that a significant amount of expenditure goes into small incremental improvements which are invisible to fans but, in the close competitive arena of the midfield, are necessary to gain advantage.
Share Or Save This Story
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
The secrets of F1 turbocharging explained
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
How a carryover Alpine blighted by politics gave Ocon an improbable F1 win
Why Ocon retains the approach forced on him by his “crazy journey”
The "fashion evolution" that transformed F1 drivers' helmet designs
The status factor that made Ferrari impossible for Hamilton to turn down
Ricciardo could feel new F1 chassis difference in China
McLaren to introduce first F1 2024 upgrade package in Miami
WEC Imola: Ferrari 1-2-3 in dominant qualifying feat
Horner: More relaxed Perez no longer focused on Verstappen in F1 2024
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
