The ban on Mercedes’ DAS system will be implemented in 2021 despite the decision to retain Formula 1’s current cars for next year.
On Tuesday, the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council ratified measures agreed by the 10 F1 teams, Liberty Media and the governing body in response to the coronavirus pandemic that has caused the start of this season to be delayed.
One of the “crisis” measures now confirmed is the postponement of the new technical regulations until 2022, however, by doing that, it had potentially left the way open for Mercedes to continue using their Dual-Axis Steering system for an extra season.
“The World Council approved the previously-announced delay of the 2021 Technical Regulations to 2022 for cost-saving measures,” an FIA statement read.
“Further measures will be introduced for 2021 following discussions with the teams. These will include the homologation of the Survival Cell (from 2020) and certain other components.
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“In addition, Dual-Axis Steering systems (DAS) will not be permitted in the 2021 regulations as defined in Article 10.4.2.
“These technical changes have already received the required unanimous approval of the participating competitors, as they represent fundamental changes introduced after 18 months prior to the start of the year of the relevant Championship.”
Other measures include the abandonment of the need for teams to vote on potential changes to the calendar, this means Liberty will have more freedom to reschedule events when safe enough to do so.
Also, only 60 per cent support from teams will be needed to change some regulations rather than the current unanimous backing in order to offer more flexibility to rulemakers.
The current three-week mandatory factory shutdown for the 10 F1 teams before the end of April has been extended to include the four engine manufacturers.
Tyre testing has been cancelled for 2020, with the introduction of the new 18-inch wheels also delayed until 2022.
And finally, all development work on the new 2022 cars has been banned until the start of next year, this means it will now be under the $175m budget cap – which might be reduced to as little as $100m according to some rumours – which comes into effect in 2021.
