Formula 1 will monitor any innovations which go against the aims of the 2022 cars, Ross Brawn claims.
Last week, the sport got a first look at the future as a full-size model of the new design was unveiled and displayed at Silverstone.
With its bold shapes and clean look, the 2022 car is being billed as part of a revolution for F1, with the goal of allowing almost every team and driver the chance to compete for wins, podiums and championships.
2021 vs 2022… contrast and compare ?#F12022 pic.twitter.com/FwPzCUzMD4
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 22, 2021
But even more importantly, it is being promoted as the catalyst for increased on-track action by dramatically reducing the impact of turbulent air.
“While 2021 has been a great battle we still have cars struggling to follow each other during the race,” F1 motorsport chief Brawn said.
“The regulations for 2022 will address this problem and create an opportunity for closer battles and more wheel-to-wheel racing.
“We will be monitoring what the teams have done and incorporating that into our modelling to make sure we don’t compromise any of the targets.”
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Speaking after the Silverstone launch, Fernando Alonso suggested the actual 2022 cars likely won’t differ too much from the model due to very tight limits on development.
But Alpine chassis director Pat Fry does still see enough room for variation.
“There are quite a few bits that are more vague and those bits you can interpret in a number of ways, but the bulk of it, the wording is there for us to work on,” he explained via Race Fans.
“There are a few things that are out there which I don’t think was in the FIA/FOM spirit. They look slightly different from what their original concepts were.
“I don’t think there are any gaping loopholes as such and it is really, compared to what we had in the past, very heavily regulated.”
However, McLaren technical director James Key does think the early period under the new rules will be dominated by ‘spirit of the regulations’ talk.
“There has always been a very strong awareness that as soon as Formula 1 teams get going on these regs, new things will be discovered because that is obviously our job and that is the nature of how this works,” he said.
“As soon as F1 teams get hold of it, you’re going to find new ways and ideas to generate performance which isn’t quite always in line with what they had hoped for.
“But I think there are going to be a lot of clarifications – and there already are. I’m sure in year two they will be tweaked a bit to try and get back to the original intent if it has drifted a bit.
“It has been a good effort put in to try and keep them contained, to try and give us a car which is perhaps a bit easier to race in ’22. That is the hope anyway,” he noted.
“I don’t think it’s one of those attempts which will fail at the first hurdle. There is a reasonably solid foundation to achieve what the goal is at the end of the day.
“But for sure, we are going to find performance that wasn’t even thought of a few months ago.”