What The Drivers Said About F1’s New Cars & Rule Changes

The 2021 F1 season will be an exciting time for fans as their will be new cars as well as new rules to force exciting racing and the drivers have had their say.

More than two years of work has delivered a fresh set of sporting and technical regulations as well as a first-ever financial rulebook, which features a $175 million cost cap aimed at levelling the playing field.

The car is an important piece of the puzzle with the new design looking to increase overtaking to create more exciting races.

WHAT THE DRIVERS SAID

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

“I always love a challenge. This team has shown that they are better prepared and in the best position to be able to react to rule changes, so I know the team is approaching the challenge in an exciting way.

“As drivers there were certain things we’ve heard and not necessarily all the decisions taken where what we thought was best for example the cars are heavier and will get slower.

“But I think it’s going to be an interesting time. I’m planning to be here so naturally at some point next year my mindset will be to switch into 2021 and wanting to be the pioneer in that era.”

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

“The target that was set out was to make a step forward. Now we have an idea, we need to try and understand what that idea means.

“Obviously on paper the ideas always look great but I think it will materialise a little bit more in the coming weeks. We’ll see.

“At the end of the day no matter how the cars look, if the racing is better and for us it’s more fun then that’s a win. So we will see.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

“The car looks good. We’ll have to see how much each team develops their cars. It might change the look of the cars a little bit, and they end up a bit more aggressive, which is always nice.

“As a driver you always want to go as quick as possible, so I hope we regain a bit of performance without losing the raceability of the cars, which I think is probably the main problem at the moment.

“To not be able to follow close is quite frustrating. In a race, when you know you are quicker, as soon as you get behind a car less than one second, you start to struggle to follow and you overheat the tyres. So hopefully all these things will be improved.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how, as long as it gives us better racing and we can follow better. Of course we want to be within two seconds, three seconds of what we are doing now, definitely, because if it’s going to be about four or five it’s not what we want as then it feels a bit too slow.

“But I think this is just the start of it and I’m sure that teams will come up with a little bit of a different look as well, so let’s just find out over time how it’s going to work out.”

Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo

“Until we see the cars running and we actually start following other people, then we’ll see if it’s better. I’m sure it is going to be better but if it’s enough to make for closer racing, we don’t know.

“Let’s hope it works, because it’s better for everybody, for us drivers, for the people that work here and for the spectators.”

Daniel Ricciardo, Renault

“I don’t care [if the cars are slower]. One of the most fun years I had in F1 was 2014, and the cars then were eight seconds slower than now.

“There were some shots on the TV of the go-karters at the kart track here [in Austin], and there was some battling and I was just getting excited watching them, going 30 mph.

“Anything that is going to be close is exciting. I’d rather have good racing than single file lap records. Then we might as well do time trials for the rest of our careers.”