Formula 1 teams have been unusually secretive about their 2021 car designs because the scope for innovation is tightly limited this year.
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To reduce costs, teams have been allocated a maximum of two development “tokens,” which restrict how much they can modify their 2020 designs. In addition, new aerodynamic rules have been introduced to reduce overall downforce.
Alpine technical director Pat Fry said teams are particularly sensitive about the parts of the car most affected by the rule changes.
“The combination of the floor area that people are trying to hide, the change in the brake duct shape and the change of the diffuser fences is certainly a pretty substantial reduction in downforce,” he said.
“I think that area will be one of the main areas of development. We’ve certainly got a programme all lined up. That, to be honest, through a lot of the teams I’ve been at, that area is one of the things where you can never model the deflected tyre shape quite correctly in the wind tunnel anyway.”
Fry expects teams to delay running final versions of those parts for as long as possible.
“I expect you’ll see everyone with a myriad of test items turning up in Bahrain and for the first few races, really. I think we haven’t just got one solution, we’ve got a myriad of things to test, really, just to get on top of it.”
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Fry described the downforce loss from the regulation changes as “significant.” “We certainly haven’t recovered all of it yet but it’s still a work in progress,” he added.
“When we get to the first test it’ll become really interesting to see how well things correlate with wind tunnel and CFD results, and what absolute performance the car delivers on track.”
Several leading teams concealed critical areas of their cars at launch. Mercedes kept parts of the W12 hidden at its reveal. Red Bull and Alpine released renderings that omitted key details and issued only limited photos of their cars during early runs — Red Bull did not distribute images of the RB16B after its initial outing.
“The secrecy that people are showing at the moment is the area around the side of the floor, in front of the tyre, the brake ducts, and how people have reacted to all that area,” Fry explained. “I think it’s the things that people will be trying to keep their powder dry on.”
Fry noted how quickly teams can inspect and replicate rivals’ solutions.
“In reality, I could see something on someone’s car and if it’s a different fence in that area or a different floor shape, I could be testing that in the wind tunnel in two days and have it on the car in a week.
“So a large rule change has happened — OK, a very limited part of the car — but it would be quite easy to react and see if someone has got something that’s working better than everyone else.
“It’s just the nature of Formula 1, isn’t it? We all think we’re clever and we all try and hide what we’re doing and then you find out how quick you are come the Bahrain race.”
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