By now you should have heard that Formula 1 is planning a major overhaul of the design of its cars for 2021, and this is the first time we get to see an iteration of the upcoming 2021 F1 car.

Formula 1 and FIA took the latest iteration of a 50 % scale model for testing in the wind tunnel to see if the planned changes on the car’s design deliver on their targets.

The 2021 rules bring new features, including bigger 18-inch wheels and different side pods, spoiler and wing among others, in order to reduce the lost downforce of an F1 car when it’s following another one during racing, making it easier to overtake.

Also Read: 2021 F1 Rules That’ll Make Overtaking Easier Will Be Finalized In October

The new design will enable F1 cars to follow each other more closely and help drivers overtake each other more easily; the wake disruption of the air behind a current F1 car reduces by 50 percent the downforce of the car that follows but with the new rules, the test showed that this will drop between 5 and 10 percent.

“The fundamental point of all of this is that we are trying to reduce the losses that the following car would face,” said Nikolas Tombazis, FIA’s Head of Single Seater Technical Matters. “The simplification of the leading car’s aerodynamics also helps for wake performance because on the one hand the front car doesn’t have as many methods to control its wake. On the other hand the following car, not having all these little, very sensitive devices is less susceptible to disruption.”

Formula 1 and FIA are currently working together to finalize the 2021 regulations in time for the October deadline, with teams also helping with the gathering of data and development process.