F1 midfield teams say 2021 meeting a ‘good step forward’

Some of Formula 1’s midfield teams have been left encouraged by a “good step forward” over the future of the sport’s landscape. 

F1 and the FIA met with team bosses in London earlier this week to discuss their proposals about new technical and sporting regulations – including power unit rules, costs, governance and revenue distribution  – all planned from 2021 onwards after the conclusion of the latest Concorde Agreement at the end of 2020. 

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, a number of team bosses provided an insight into the meeting and gave their views on the latest progress made. 

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“We tried to cover all the topics of the project. I think that we are doing a good step forward,” said Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur.

“It’s not an easy one because we are 10 teams around the table with different kinds of structure for the company, with different targets, but we are going in the right direction from my point of view.”

McLaren boss Zak Brown said: “Chase [Carey] rolled out I think pretty much what we were all expecting around budget cap, revenue distribution, governance and technical rules. 

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“I don’t think anyone was surprised because he has been consulting with all the teams, really since this time last year. 

“And like Fred said, it was all a very positive step in the right direction. It’s probably not an ideal situation for any of the 10 teams but given that you have 10 teams you’re never going to land on something that works for all.

“So I think the fact that it’s maybe not perfect for any one team means that he got it pretty right.”

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner added the talks led to a “good step forward” but hopes the rules can be ironed out sooner rather than later. 

It has emerged that F1 rule makers and the teams are considering postponing the final set of rules from June to December in the hope of stopping the top teams from gaining a head-start. 

However, some of the midfield team bosses doubt whether such a delay would have the desired impact. 

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“I think the big teams will always be in a better position because, in theory, they should be in even a better position if we start later because then they can throw even, more in a short time, emphasis on it,” Steiner explained. 

“So it’s neither here nor there. At some stage we just have to have to come to a conclusion that we get started and get going. Keep it practical and don’t discuss, or maybe get a little bit of an advantage because that is why we don’t decide. 

“From our side, if we start in June, fine, if we start in December, fine as well. We will not have a big opinion about either of it.”

Brown said McLaren would “react accordingly” and reckons a delay would not “really matter”, with Vasseur echoing his comments.

“It’s always difficult to know if the late publication of the regulations will help the small teams or the big teams, because they’re also able to develop much faster than us and it’s not an easy goal or an easy way to decide,” Vasseur said. 

“Honestly, for me it’s not just a matter of timing , it’s also a matter of  being sure about what we are doing. It’s much better to take this kind of decision that to publish something a bit later. We are not in a rush to publish something on the 27th of June. It’s not the big part of the deal.”

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost thinks a delay would help smaller outfits save money. 

“First of all, it is not 100% decided yet. It should be confidential,” Tost added. “The main topic is not to spend even more money because the earlier the new regulation is being published, the earlier the teams start to investigate this new regulation and spend a hell of a lot of money for the development.

“It means if the new regulation comes out in June this year teams will immediately concentrate to build up engineering groups to investigate the new regulation and to start with different tests and simulators just to get an advantage out of it.”