Horner: Fun really begins when 2021 F1 rules are put to teams

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has warned the 2021 Formula 1 rules shake-up “will change and evolve” once the proposals are put forward to teams.

With F1’s initial June deadline for the 2021 rules expected to be missed at the next FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting, F1 team bosses are preparing for a frantic few months to lockdown the future rules, regulations and commercial agreements.

Speaking during the F1 team principal press conference at the Monaco Grand Prix, all team bosses expect to be given a draft of the 2021 proposals at the next F1 team meeting this month which led to the Red Bull chief Horner predicting key changes will be pushed for by different teams before the expected formal confirmation at the end for 2019.

“I’m sure something is going to be presented,” Horner said. “It will probably nowhere near what actually gets signed. I’m sure the regulations will change and evolve.

“Something will come out in June, it will change in September, October, probably in November, and yeah, there’s plenty of ground to cover, but there is a watershed moment where something will be put in front of us fairly shortly and then the fun really begins.”

Racing Point’s technical director Andrew Green has paid credit to the development work achieved by the FIA and F1 with the technical regulations, headed by Ross Brawn and Pat Symonds, but predicts the rules will need clarifying and tweaking throughout the rest of this year before the final rulebook can be officially approved.

The primary focus of the technical regulations has been on providing F1 cars which can create closer racing, while the engine rules are expected to be a simpler version of the current V6 Hybrid configurations.

“I know that the FIA and F1 have done a huge amount of work in the background,” Green said. “We were exposed to some of it last week in a technical working group meeting.

“We could see that it’s quite well evolved. It’s going to need some tidying up for sure. We have meetings planned from now until the end of the year, which is where we all anticipate it’s going to go to.

“It’s a significant set of changes, bit like I said, they have done a huge amount of work in the background and I think we can get there.”