Despite best efforts, the FIA admits some trust will fall on the teams to report any loopholes in the 2021 Formula 1 regulations.
A raft of changes including new cars, a budget cap and stricter rules on aerodynamic development have all been devised by Liberty Media’s motorsport director Ross Brawn in partnership with the FIA.
However, while efforts have been made to avoid unintended consequences with the 2021 rules, those who do find workarounds are being urged to do what’s best for the sport.
“We did identify two or three areas that were not well written or well-controlled and we wrote better rules in the last few months,” FIA head of single-seater development Nikolas Tombazis explained last month.
“Out of the 10 teams a fair percentage, I wouldn’t say all, will take the responsible view and if they see there is an inconsistency in the rules they will be interested to report it to us and to help us find a solution.
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“The reason teams, depending on their attitude or whether they are risk-prone or not, will do that is because they have found some loophole, they know it is against the intention of the rule and we have up until a certain point in time to adjust the rules and make corrections.
“They don’t want to necessarily spend three months on something and have the carpet pulled under their feet and lose three months.
“So sometimes some teams discover [something] and before they start spending resource there they want to be sure that it won’t be somehow banned or whatever.”
Already teams are devoting time and resources to their 2021 projects and Racing Point technical chief Andrew Green has speculated the 2021 cars will be a challenge for the drivers.
“I think there are areas [of development] that could do with being freed up around the front wing,” he said via F1i.com.
“Around the front of the car, I think it’s incredibly restrictive to the point where it’s really going to hurt the handling of the car. It’s going to be a real nasty piece of work to drive.
“Aerodynamically it’s going to be quite unstable. I don’t think that’s a nice thing to have.
“You want cars that are a bit more predictable so that drivers can attack, be sure what they’ve got underneath them and they know what’s going to happen, they can drive the car at the limit knowing that it’s stable at the limit.
“From what I see at the moment none of those statements are true for 2021.
“It’s more about what’s happening at the front of the car and where the dirty air is going, right into the tunnels. The car currently is creating its own dirty air.”
