Style and substance. F1 has been working with the FIA and the teams to create a Formula 1 car for 2021 that delivers better racing and has the looks to match. The design will continue to evolve over the next year but here’s a first look at the concepts that will shape F1’s future…

Ferrari have taken the fight to Mercedes this year, with Red Bull getting involved and fighting for top honours, too. And F1 is working on a design for a future car that will increase the chances of great fights, all the way down the field, every year.

High on the agenda, then, is a solution to allow cars to follow each other more easily, which in turn should increase the opportunities to overtake. But there is also a desire to have cars that look so good, kids want to have posters of them on their walls.

“When we started looking at the 2021 car, the primary objective was to enable the cars to race well together,” says Formula 1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn. “What we established early on in our research is the cars we have now are very bad in following each other.

“Once the cars get within a few car lengths of each other, they lose 50% of their downforce. That’s a substantial amount of performance lost. So we set about understanding why that was and how we can improve it. I’m pleased to say we’re at about 80%.

“As time has gone on, another of the primary objectives was to make great looking cars. We want cars that look better than what you see in a video game, cars that kids want to have up on their walls. At each stage, as we have been evolving the car, we’ve had someone we are working with create a graphic representation artist to give us a feel of what the car could look like.

“That is not to control the development, because it’s critical this development achieves its objectives, but why shouldn’t we have great looking cars as we’re evolving the cars? We want a car that is inspiring. F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and the car should look sensational.”