As readers may remember, the 2019 F1 aerodynamic regulations were made public in 2018, with great fanfare. They were intended as a ‘quick win’ from F1’s technical research programme, which was targeted mainly at the grand revolution we’ll all see in 2021.
That quick win was supposed to be an interim step to improving the chance of an overtake once two cars are close, albeit to a lesser degree than is expected in 2021.
With the hype surrounding the now-published 2021 regulations, it’s easy to forget what happened in 2019. There has been the occasional, usually not too positive, driver interview about the changes, but little in terms of objective analysis.
Why should F1 fans be interested in what is now consigned to history? Well, F1 is obviously on a major journey heading into 2021 and the only hard evidence the public has that it’s actually moving in the right direction is the success (or otherwise) of the 2019 season in meeting its stated objective of improving overtaking, even if only moderately.
If you want to know the answer, read on; it’s a fascinating story…
