F1 rubbishes talk of delay to 2022 new rules

The arrival of next generation ground effect cars, designed to help improve the racing, had already been put back to 2022 because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

But with the world still battling the effects of the disease, and much of Europe being stuck in strict lockdowns at the moment, there had been some talk about a potential change of plan.

The suggestion was that the current cars could carry over for a third campaign, with the new regulations being scheduled for arrival in 2023.

But F1 has made clear that there is no thought being given to any further delay to the introduction of the new rules, which have long been viewed by Liberty as essential for improving the sport.

A spokesman said: "Any suggestion the 2022 regulations will be delayed is wrong and has not been discussed.

"The new regulations are designed to improve competition on track and give our fans closer racing. This combined with the new financial regulations will improve F1 and create a healthier and stronger business model for the whole sport."

The original delay from 2021 was more than justified by the scale of the financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic when it first broke out, with F1 concerned that some teams could collapse as a result of the crisis.

However, F1’s success in pulling off a full calendar in 2020, has eased worried about the survival of all the current competitors.

As early as last year, a number of teams had talked about pushing back the new rules until 2023 in a bid to slash costs, but this was strongly dismissed by F1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn.

He argued that with the new generation of cars being less technical complex than the current ones, that it would actually save money once the switchover happened.

Speaking in 2020 about some outfits wanting a delay, Brawn said: “I think some teams pushed to delay them a further year.

"I think there’s a justifiable need to carry these [current] cars over into next year because we’re in the middle of the [lockdown]. That’s completely justified.

“The initiatives we’re bringing with these new regulations are to make the sport more economically viable in terms of the complexity, where the money is spent.

“With the cars we have now, they’re so complex that with the more you spend the quicker you’ll go and we need to level off that slope and create a situation where money is not the only priority in how competitive you’ll be. Therefore, we need these new cars to even that slope.”

Although F1 teams will experience some increased costs from needing to develop 2022 cars alongside their current challengers, the imposition of a budget cap for this year means that spending cannot get out of control.