Possibly disputes over rules again in 2022: 'Otherwise no F1'

Formula 1 is on the eve of a new era. The new cars for 2022 should provide better action on the track and teams much closer together. Ross Brawn and Nikolas Tombazis are going into the new season with confidence.

New regulations in F1

In 2022, Formula 1 teams will have to adhere to a completely new set of aerodynamic regulations. These rules are mainly aimed at making racing more possible. The dirty air created behind the cars has made that overtaking almost impossible in recent years and that should change with the new rules.

Although Brawn acknowledges that it probably won't all be perfect right away, he is confident that the cars will provide closer performance from the start. The top teams will no longer have such a big lead over the others, Brawn tells the BBC.

Due to the infrastructure of the teams, it is expected that Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes will still come out on top at the start of these new regulations. They have the best resources to figure out what works best with these rules, but the differences won't be as great in 2022 as they were before.

The gray area

However, Tombazis, head of chassis at the FIA, also knows that some flexibility will be needed in the first year. After all, teams will be looking for the limits of the new rules and, in doing so, will sometimes do things that F1 had not planned in advance. ''To that end, we will continue to conduct tests to avoid that.''

According to Tombazis, however, it is unavoidable that there will be some flexibility, to which F1 must adapt. Brawn even thinks that is part of F1. ''There have to be disputes, it wouldn't be F1 without them. It would also be naive of us to think that we won't have any disputes in the coming year,'' Brawn concludes.