Haas Team Principal, Guenther Steiner is pleased that the new regulations for 2021 still allow for creativity when it comes to development.

The new regulations for 2021 have stripped back much of the aerodynamic pieces on the car, making for a much simpler front wing and rear wing, and the removal of the barge boards currently seen on today’s cars.

It had been argued that the rules were going to be too prescriptive and as such, it would limit the development opportunities for the teams to pursue, but Steiner believes that after much deliberation, the right balance has been achieved and that the aerodynamics will still be able to be developed.

“The development, whatever the regulations, is always in aerodynamics.” commented Steiner.

“There is still enough freedom where we can develop areas of the car to make them different from each other.

“In the end, that was achieved. It was the biggest argument between FIA, FOM (Formula One Management) and the teams.

“The teams didn’t want to have a single-make car or be boxed in too much. We didn’t want to end up with a GP1 series.

“In the end, FOM opened up the creativity by opening up the regulations. So, hopefully, we can achieve it.”

Formula 1 bosses have been focussed on allowing the 2021 generation cars to be able to follow each other closely, allowing for more overtaking, and so a lot of the aerodynamic gain will come from the floor with ground effect making a return to the series.

While this will allow the cars to follow each other closer than before, the lack of aerodynamic pieces on the bodywork will mean the car runs with more drag.

The cars will also be 25kg heavier than the current generation and as a result, it is anticipated the cars will be around three seconds slower than they are now.

Despite this, Steiner believes that with the rate of development in Formula 1, it won’t be long before the cars are running as fast as they are now.

“Nobody wants heavier cars in racing in general, and even more so in Formula One.” Steiner added when talking about the weight increase.

“I don’t think the 25 kilos will be the biggest factor in making the cars slower – it’s more the aerodynamics.

“Maybe at the beginning we are not where we want to be, but I’m pretty sure we’ll end up with the cars back to being as fast as they are now.”