Racing Point forced to dig itself out of a hole with 2021 regulations

Racing Point

Racing Point forced to dig itself out of a hole with 2021 regulations

F1 is aiming to decrease downforce for next season

Ewan Gale

Monday 19 October 2020 17:14

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Racing Point technical director Andrew Green believes the team will have "a hole to dig" itself out of over the new aerodynamic regulations for 2021.

The sport is introducing a small rules tweak for next season in an attempt to curb the increasing downforce levels achieved by modern Formula 1 cars, notably as Pirelli will not be altering its rubber.

As is often the case when regulations are altered for safety reasons, on this occasion with small elements being added to the floor to reduce downforce, the engineering implications are considerable,

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Although Green is confident the rules will have the desired effect, he has conceded it represents a significant challenge for his team.

"It is even bigger again, so it is another big step," he said. "Not as big as the first one, but as far as we are concerned, going in the wrong direction.

"It is a hole we are going to have to dig ourselves out of over the next few months, which is the intention.

"The intention of the regulations was to trim the downforce and make sure we don't have any more downforce than this year, which I am pretty confident that is going to be the case.

"There is no way we are going to get back to those levels we have got this year so in that respect, I think the FIA can tick that box That is done and it is now down to us to develop as much as we can out of it."

The added complication for the teams is the arrival of a completely new-look formula for 2022 along with restrictions on aerodynamic development from January next year.

All of these variables lead Green to believe teams will do well to reach the performance levels of the current cars in the future.

"I think in the time that we have, if we had more time and we were looking towards 2022, we could get back towards where we are now," he explained.

"But lots of other things are in the mix as well. Not only have we got a 2022 car to think about, come beginning of January the aerodynamic testing restrictions are going to change again and with the big reduction in aerodynamic development.

"That will hamper us as well so I think all those together, we will be doing a very good job if we get anywhere near where we are now."

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