Formula 1 bosses are expected to make small changes to their proposed technical regulations for 2021, RaceFans reports.
On Wednesday, teams, the FIA and Liberty Media all met for what was the final meeting to discuss the plans put forward ahead of a deadline for an agreement at the end of October.
Beforehand, however, there was growing uncertainty about the process after it was revealed last weekend that only four teams, Williams, McLaren, Alfa Romeo and Renault, backed the technical regulations in their current form.
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The biggest concern of the other teams though, led by Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, was the restrictions on aerodynamic development being suggested.
“What I always said, and I say it again, I do not support GP1 racing,” Haas boss Guenther Steiner said last weekend, echoing comments made by other team principals.
“[F1’s] DNA needs to stay. Having same-looking cars would not make a difference in competitiveness, the big teams will still spend more money on things you cannot even see now because they don’t differentiate the cars anymore.”
At the same time, Steiner conceded some compromise had to be given from both sides.
“They’ve done a lot, the FIA and FOM have done the aero research and we need to respect that because they spent a lot of time,” he noted.
“I think they diligently tried to find areas where we want differentiation which doesn’t impact on the overtaking studies.”
And that was the line coming from RaceFans on Thursday that some leeway has been given but primarily in areas that shouldn’t undo the work done to promote closer racing.
Also to come from the meeting, it was reported teams discussed the option of postponing the new regulations until 2022 but that was not approved.
Renault’s desire to see some kind of engine development freeze was mentioned, while the introduction of a standard brake system was totally dropped.
Finally, on the topic of Ferrari’s veto power, which Liberty was keen to take away, it appears that goal has not been reached but stricter conditions on how it could be used are likely to be imposed.