Racing news
Tyres unchanged
Formula 1 will stick with 2019specification Pirelli rubber next year, after teams unanimously voted to reject the new tyres that were being prepared for 2020. The prototype 2020 spec – which was designed to reduce tyre degradation, provide a wider working range of temperature and lower overheating in dirty air – had made its race weekend debut during free practice in Austin, but earned largely negative reviews from the drivers who had sampled it. Pirelli hoped a two-day post-season test in Abu Dhabi would help resolve the concerns but it failed to do so.
Mclaren’s new sim
Mclaren will aim to debut an all-new simulator in 2020 that will be a “massive departure” from its predecessor, according to tech chief James Key. Although Mclaren finished fourth in the constructors’ championship in 2019, it is still undergoing a continuous overhaul under the management of new team boss Andreas Seidl and Key, who joined from Toro Rosso. Mclaren’s F1 simulator was once state-of-theart but Key says developing a new version was a must in light of technological advancements. Key said: “It’s a massive departure to what we’ve been using.”
No swapping seats
Christian Horner says he expects Max Verstappen to remain with Red Bull in 2021, and would not be surprised if other leading F1 drivers stayed with their outfits. The contracts of Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel expire at the end of next season, while Charles Leclerc is also potentially available. The topic of Verstappen’s future has cropped up several times in 2019, most notably when his father Jos stated Red Bull must make changes in ’20 to avoid a “wasted” year. Horner said: “It’s down to us to give him a competitive car next year, but I think ultimately when the music stops I wouldn’t be surprised for everybody to end up in the same seats.”
Second-class teams
Formula 1 boss Chase Carey says new teams must not be forced to enter as “second-class citizens”, which will be helped by certain financial restrictions being removed from 2021. At present, F1’s system for distributing prize money includes an equal payment to all teams that finish in the top 10 in the constructors’ championship for two of the previous three seasons. F1’s payment system will be tweaked for 2021 and while the equally-distributed participation pot will remain, the rule that excluded new teams from this for three years will not. “If you come in, you should be part of the part of the sport, and not a second-class citizen,” F1 CEO Carey said. “To come in as a secondclass citizen, I think that’s a deterrent.”
Mclaren has ruled out entering the World Endurance Championship unless it can run one of the new breed of Daytona Prototype international IMSA contenders in the LM Hypercar class.
Zak Brown, chief executive of Mclaren Racing, stated that he believes the LM Hypercar technical regulations for the 2020-21 WEC are out of reach financially for the British organisation.
He welcomed attempts by IMSA, WEC promoter the Automobile Club de l’ouest and the FIA to align the DPI 2.0 rules due to come into force in 2022 with the LM Hypercar division, a move that would allow the two types of car to compete against each other across both series.
“As the [LM Hypercar] rules exist today, I think we would struggle to get there economically,” said Brown. “I have got to be really responsible [financially], especially with the Formula 1 team needing a few years to reduce its losses.
“I can’t enter any new form of motor racing in the short term that would run at any kind of meaningful loss.”
Asked to confirm that the long-talked-about Mclaren WEC entry depends on IMSA and WEC rules being aligned in some way, Brown replied: “Yes.”
Brown revealed that Mclaren’s estimates put a top budget for an LM Hypercar programme at $40million a season. He suggested that
Mclaren believes a viable budget for the company is around half that figure.
Brown stressed that it will be important for Mclaren to be able to incorporate its
DNA into a car built to the DPI 2.0 rules, which like the current DPI formula will call for cars to be developed around an off-the-peg
LMP2 chassis.