“We have fears”- Mercedes worried about new tyre and aerodynamics 2021 regulations

“We have fears”- Mercedes worried about the new regulations imposed on tyres and aerodynamics for 2021, as limited information is present.

After seven years of domination, Mercedes is worried about their 2021 season, with a new tyre and aerodynamics regulations can hamper their ongoing reign.

Because of COVID-19, FIA imposed a chassis freeze on all teams, with certain relaxations on aerodynamics modifications. Meanwhile, there are also amends waiting for tyres supplied by Pirelli, confirming a move to low profile tyres.

Speaking on it, Mercedes technical director James Allison has said that both rules so far have kept the team off-guard and they could experiment only little with new resources.

“We are delighted with the mechanical platform,” he told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, as per the Inside Racing. “She puts the tyres in the window where they work best in most races.”

“The car is reliable, the engine is excellent, the car is well balanced, and the aerodynamics go well with the mechanics. That’s a good foundation.”

“Still, we have fears. There is a new tyre next year, which came as a bit of a surprise. We had some clues about this tyre at Portimao, but since it was a blind test on a completely new track, it wasn’t very illuminating.”

“We got better information in the last two races. We will use the data to learn whether the tire fits our mechanical and aerodynamic platform as well as it did before.”

Cropping downforce by 10% is a huge differential.

FIA in 2021 aims to decrease the potential of downforce by 10-15% that can be used while driving a Formula 1 car, and according to Allison, it can affect multiple things.

“The second concern is how the new aerodynamic rules will play out,” Allison added, with the biggest changes coming to the floor and diffuser to cut downforce by around 10-15%.

“These aerodynamic changes are pretty big, so big that we can’t assume that our platform will automatically continue to work this well,” said Allison.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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