{"id":610976,"date":"2020-01-13T14:59:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T14:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/\/\/f1-rules-war"},"modified":"2020-11-24T10:46:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T10:46:42","slug":"f1-rules-war","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/october-2019\/110\/f1-rules-war\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 Rules war"},"content":{"rendered":"
At the time of writing, Formula 1\u2019s much-vaunted 2021 overhaul stands on the verge of collapse. Mercedes and Red Bull are lined up behind Ferrari\u2019s veto to torpedo revolutionary aerodynamic proposals and the standardisation of costly key components. <\/span><\/p>\n The postponement of announcing the next rules package from June to October has not resulted in the consensus for which the FIA, Liberty and seven teams had hoped. The two sides of the argument remain as far opposed as ever they were. All that has been agreed so far is the $175m (\u00a3145m) cost cap (with non-inclusions, like driver salaries and marketing).<\/span><\/p>\n Throughout the whole process (which essentially began when Liberty bought F1\u2019s commercial rights in 2017), consensus has been the key word for both Liberty\u2019s Ross Brawn and FIA president Jean Todt. The hope has been to bring all the teams along in a joint vision to enhance the appeal of F1 and attend to its perceived weaknesses. The 2021 roll-out of a \u2018clean-sheet F1\u2019 to align with the new contract between teams, the FIA and Liberty was supposed to be the all-in-one fully researched and fully supported encapsulation of that aim. <\/span><\/p>\n But as crunch time approaches, that unity is not there \u2013 and the lines are drawn by the teams of \u2018haves\u2019 and \u2018have nots\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n Whatever form F1 takes from 2021 has to be decided by October, because the current contract expires at the end of 2020. Delaying the new rules by a year, to give extra time to hammer out consensus, is not an option. Liberty must have a contract in place with the participants, otherwise it doesn\u2019t own anything beyond 2020. The participants in turn must know a year in advance what the regulations for their 2021 cars are going to be. <\/span><\/p>\n Ordinarily the FIA, having valiantly tried but failed to get full agreement among the teams, might simply announce the new regulations and invite the teams to enter. But Ferrari has the power \u2013 written into the regulations since 1980 \u2013 to veto any rule change that it deems against its interests. Ferrari claims it would invoke the veto only with great reluctance and would prefer its views are reflected in the rules. The inference is clear: it will use the veto if the regulations are pushed through as they are currently proposed. Which is convenient for both Mercedes and Red Bull, who share broadly the same reservations as Ferrari. <\/span><\/p>\n So what exactly are the proposals and what are the big teams\u2019 objections?<\/span><\/p>\n
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