Dimensions of the 2021 F1 cars

D as a new Formula 1 car for 2021 we are now seen from all sides. Is it nicer? It's a matter of taste. Is it easier? In any case. The rules get rid of all the aerodynamic nonsense that nobody understands anyway. Will it be faster? Certainly not. Lap times will increase by three to four seconds per lap as the new era begins.

Will it serve the purpose and make overtaking easier? Yes on paper. We won't see whether the promise will be kept on the racetrack until 2021. The engineers will continue to only build cars that are optimized for lap times. What happens behind it is not part of your area of ​​responsibility.

One question has not yet been answered. How high, how wide and how long are the new cars actually? In the past you would have said: just look through the regulations! Have lots of fun with it. You won't get very far, unless you are sitting in front of a computer with CAD software.

The new technical regulations were written specifically for the design programs. It has been CAD-optimized so that the engineers can see on the screen whether they are moving inside or outside the rules.

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The new rear wing is wider at the top. The lower element above the diffuser is brand new.

2021 cars 10 centimeters shorter

Who in the technical regulations for Looking for dimensions or drawings in 2021 will not find anything. The entire car is divided into 186 three-dimensional legality boxes on 141 pages, 58 of which are for the underbody alone. If you want to know how wide the front wing and how high the rear wing is, you first have to read paragraph 3.9. and 3.10. look in whichSection the relevant component lies, and then later, under Appendix 1 (Regulation volumes), calculate how large the relevant part may be.

The dimensions of the legality boxes are specified in the X, Y and Z directions and refer on three reference levels and only allow constructive freedom in this volume. Because that is too complicated, we have calculated the most important dimensions for you and compared them with a car from 2020. The rules in 2020 hardly differ from those this year.

New is a wheelbase restriction. The distance between the two axes must not be more than 3,600 millimeters from 2021. The Mercedes is currently the longest car with a wheelbase of 3,698 millimeters. The width of the vehicle at 2,000 millimeters has not changed. The maximum width of the floor plate between the wheels of 1,600 millimeters also remains unchanged.

The vehicle height increases from 950 to 960 millimeters. The space for baffles between the front wheels and the side pods is currently between 850 and 950 millimeters, depending on the wheelbase. There will be no more baffles in 2021. Flow straighteners are only allowed under the car. Its length from the beginning of the two tunnels in front of the cooling inlets is a maximum of 1,225 millimeters. In this area, the engineers are allowed to place up to three vertical 'fences' in any shape.

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The wheelbase is Limited to 2021. This makes the cars shorter. The diffuser rises 70 centimeters in front of the rear axle.

Front wing narrower, rear wing wider

The front wing shrinks in its width from 2,000 to 1,950 millimeters. The main blade then hovers at least 100 millimeters above the road in order to avoid turbulence near the ground. The front wing height is currently 75 millimeters at the lowest point. A maximum of four elements are allowed. The 2019 and 2020 cars still have five front wing elements.

A striking detail of the new front wing are the towering end plates. They are up to 375 millimeters high. It is currently a maximum of 225 millimeters. In return, the length of the end caps is reduced from 575 to 500 millimeters. Also theRear wing end plates will have less depth in the future. Today they are 810 millimeters wide from the foremost to the rearmost end. In the future it will only be 540 millimeters.

The rear of the 2021 cars has been completely redesigned. There are two reasons. On the one hand, lost downforce has to be compensated for by eliminating the flow controls and the simpler front wing; on the other hand, the regulators want to ensure that the bad air behind the car is deflected upwards. Two mighty tunnels under the car and a larger rear wing are supposed to generate additional contact pressure.

This also has an impact on the dimensions. The rear wing is 900 instead of 870 millimeters higher in the wind. A maximum of two elements are allowed at the top. They can be 1,300 millimeters wide. That is an increase of 250 millimeters compared to the 2020 rules.

The rear wing will get a lower element again in 2021. It can be a maximum of 800 millimeters wide. The diffuser of the future will be higher, but narrower and longer. Its height climbs from 150 to 310 millimeters, its width shrinks from 1,050 to 700 millimeters.

The so-called “kick off point”, i.e. the point at which the ground rises again, is also decisive for the effect may. Said point is currently 175 millimeters in front of the center line of the rear axle. In the future it will be 700 millimeters. The bad news at the end. The cars are getting heavier. The minimum weight increases from 743 to 768 kilograms.