Even though five-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has been a critic of the process the FIA has used in order to establish new 2021 rules, the Mercedes driver did discuss the matter recently with F1 boss Chase Carey and Ross Brawn.
When asked by Autosport how he felt about being more informed, Hamilton acknowledged that “it’s been a huge step for us to be involved, it’s a big step for all the drivers to be united.”
“We’re building a new and better relationship with the FIA, and I think they’ve been quite open. There are things that we ask about and they are like ‘we can’t change it now’… but there’s no such thing as ‘can’t’ for an engineer.”
He went on to say that the drivers have been shown “the amount that you lose behind a car today and what their simulations say that we will lose in terms of downforce behind the new car,” and that “it looks great”.
“I’m working as hard as I can to make sure I can stay around for then and get to drive those newer cars.”
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The British driver is still however concerned about the cars getting slower and heavier, and thinks that 2021-gen models will be “two or three seconds off” today’s lap times.
Still, the goal was always to allow for more wheel-to-wheel racing and overtaking, which should make things more spectacular – even at the expense of straight line speed or cornering speeds.
Current F1 cars can lose up to 50% downforce when following another car due to the turbulent air, whereas 2021 cars will only lose an estimated 5% to 10% thanks to a ground effect-based aero package.
