3 major changes that may lead to surprising results in F1 2021
By: Samarth Madiyala
Tags: 2021, Formula 1

The 2021 season was meant to be a groundbreaking season for F1 but due to covid-19 this was put on hold. Here are the changes you can expect to see in 2021.

Calendar

2021 will feature the most number of races ever held in a Formula 1 season. The 23 race calendar will feature new circuits like Zandvoort and Jeddah while also featuring some favorites such as Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps. It spans across 9 month and ends on the 5th of Dcember at Abu Dhabi.

Team and Driver Changes

Coming into 2021 there has been quite a lot of change. Renault and Racing Point have been renamed as Alpine F1 Team and Aston Martin F1 team respectively.

In the beginning of May, Ferrari opted not to renew Sebastian Vettel and that started a chain reaction with Ferrari deciding to sign Carlos Sainz to replace Vettel. Mclaren didn’t waste anytime in replacing Sainz with them pouncing on Ricciardo who wasn’t happy with Renault package. Renault then signed two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to replace Ricciardo.

The other three teams to have new drivers are Haas, Red Bull and Alphatauri. Haas deciding to try out two rookies Schumacher and Mazepin. While Red Bull have gone against their ideology of signing drivers from outside the Red Bull driver program for the Red Bull seat by signing race winner Sergio Perez to replace Alexander Albon, the rookie underperforming at Red Bull. Alphatauri also replaced Danil Kvyat with talented F2 rookie Yuki Tsunoda. At the time of writing this Mercedes still haven’t announced whether they are renewing reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton’s contract. The other teams have decided to keep their 2020 driver line up.

Regulation Changes for 2021

2021 was meant to be a the end of an era with the FIA bringing new technical regulations. Unfortunately due to the coronavirus pandemic the FIA decided to freeze most of the parts of the 2020 car and carry it into 2021 with the big technical regulation change to come in 2022. Although there are still some new changes to the rules for 2021.

The biggest change going into the 2021 Formula 1 season is the cost cap of 175 million dollars. This includes the cost of everything that covers on-track performance. What it doesn’t cover however is the marketing costs and the salaries of your drivers or employees. The cost cap is meant to bridge a gap between the bigger teams and the smaller teams for better and more closer racing.

Pirelli have decided to continue using the same tyre sets used in 2019 and 2020. This is presents a problem as Pirelli usually update their tyre compounds to meet the requirements of the gains of performance over the several years. As cars corner harder and faster they put added pressure on the tyres and Pirelli couldn’t guarantee whether they would be able to withstand the force of the cars. So the FIA solved this problem by making the floor narrower. This nerfs the aerodynamics of the car by reducing its capacity to produce downforce.

Teams are still allowed to develop a few parts, mostly being aero parts.

We have to wait until the the first week of March for the pre season testing and for actual racing to begin we have to wait until 19th March for the Australian grand prix.