Lewis Hamilton has struck an optimistic tone on the new cars set to be introduced in 2021.
The Briton’s opinion has been varied on the current plans being debated by teams, the FIA and Formula 1 bosses, even questioning the theory behind some proposals as recently as last week.
On the new cars though, which are set to see a shift towards ground effect aerodynamics and a more futuristic design, the world champion was excited by what he’s seen.
“It’s been a huge step for us to be involved [in the 2021 process],” he told RaceFans in Sochi.
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“It’s a big step for all the drivers to be united and I think we’re building a new and better relationship with the FIA, the GPDA and the FIA communicating.
“They’ve been quite open [on the car design],” Lewis admitted. “I think there are things that we ask about and they are like ‘we can’t change it now’ but there’s no such thing as ‘can’t’ for an engineer.
“There’s lots of things that can be improved but the thing they did show us the other day is that the amount [of grip] that you lose behind a car today, what their simulations say that we will lose in terms of downforce behind the new car, I think it looks great.
“So I’m working as hard as I can to make sure I can stay around for then and get to drive those newer cars.”
One aspect of the new 2021 machines that has been hinted at though is the likely drop in performance compared to today, with some team bosses claiming the new F1 cars will only just out-pace F2.
“Naturally we don’t want the cars to be slower either,” Hamilton said.
“I think they said they’re two or three seconds off so hopefully, we can push that forward but some things like weight, we don’t want the car to get heavier but it is going in that direction. I know they’re working really hard at it.”