At Silverstone, we saw that under extreme conditions it all gets a bit too much for the Pirelli tyres. Because the tires would be even more loaded in 2021, the FIA has now decided to reduce the downward pressure on the cars.
Nicholas Tombazis, technical director of the FIA, explained to Auto Motor und Sport what measures are being taken to reduce the amount of downward pressure for next season. He has three means to do so.
The three adjustments
First of all, no more slots may be made on the sides of the base plate. In today's cars, the base plate for the rear wheel is full of them.
In addition, the area at the suspension will be reduced where small wings can still be placed. This area will be about four centimeters smaller in 2021.
Finally, the diffuser will be tackled. The vertical parts, which teams want to protrude as far as possible to asphalt in order to generate as much downward pressure as possible, will be shortened by five centimeters.