New Formula 1 development regulations 'will be interesting' says Christian Horner

Christian Horner

New Formula 1 development regulations 'will be interesting' says Horner

New regulations will see less development for better performing teams

Sam Hall

Saturday 23 May 2020 16:43

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Red Bull boss Christian Horner is not in favour if the new Formula 1 regulations surrounding aerodynamic developments.

The changes will see a baseline figure established for the amount of time a team can spend using a wind tunnel. Teams that perform worse across a season will be granted more time the following year, and teams performing more strongly will be granted less.

“We have a budget cap and now we also have this sliding scale on the ATR [aerodynamic testing restrictions],” Horner told The Race.

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“Thankfully, while we weren’t able to get rid of it in its entirety, it has been adjusted so that it’s a linear line between first and 10th, rather than isolating the first three, and more time being available from fourth onwards."

For the 2021 season, the first campaign in which the regulations will play a part, the 2020 champions will only be permitted to use 90% of the baseline time figure, with this number rising by 2.5% per team with the team who finishes last in 2020 able to use 112.5%.

The initial impact of this regulation change is expected to be minimal, the difference between wind tunnel time being low owing to the fact that drastically new aerodynamic regulations will come into force for the 2022 season.

Therefore, in 2022, the changes will be larger, with the champion team limited to 70% of the base number, and 5% differences between teams gifting the bottom team 115% of the time.

Horner added: “It’s slightly perverse in that respect, but it does give more development time the further back down the order you are, which as we know in F1 has a significant impact.

“The budget levels, where they’re at now, there’s probably six teams that were operating beyond the [planned cap].

“That means that they should be able to maximise their activity within the cap and development.

“It will be interesting to see how it works.”

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