The cars, with revised aerodynamics, will once again benefit from the ground effect: this suction effect, banned in the 1980s, "sticks" the single-seaters to the bitumen and should allow the cars to follow and overtake each other more easily .

Q: Why did you want this change?

A: "Our main objective was to offer the ability to have tighter races. We realized that it was very difficult to follow another F1. However, a huge part of the performance of these cars comes from aerodynamics. We wanted to find a way to improve the behavior of the cars, especially when they are in direct competition. It will take a bit of time but I think we will be in a much better position in the future with the new model. I have a lot of optimism for the season and I think we will see some interesting results."

Q: Will we find the same teams in the lead, Mercedes and Red Bull, despite these changes and despite the budget cap set at $140 million this year?

A: "Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari have invested more resources than other teams in recent years, and it wasn't wasted money. Plus they have a lot of smart people working for them. "It's not all going to go away. We'll still have the teams at the front that have done a good job. But I think the gaps will narrow, I'm optimistic we'll have more cars in the fight, certainly after a few months When everyone has been able to see the other cars and everyone's developments All the decisions were made not to water down the sport, but to make it more accessible for more teams and to achieve tighter competition , while maintaining meritocracy.there is a lot more competition, but less domination by teams with huge resources."

Q: When you were managing the Brawn GP team in 2009, you found the silver bullet with the double diffuser and surprised yourself by winning the championship.

Can a team repeat the same scenario?

F1 sporting director Ross Brawn in the Italian GP paddock at Monza Autodrome, September 6, 2020 Mark Thompson POOL/AFP/Archives

A: "As with any new regulation, there will be some disparity in the solutions chosen, especially at the beginning. But it will not be important in my opinion. I do not think there are any silver bullets at the moment. This is not like in 2009. Nothing has surprised me yet (Seeing the single-seaters unveiled during the presentations, editor's note. But we haven't seen everything yet of course. We haven't yet seen anything especially at Mercedes or Red Bull. There is still a little time. I think we will see most of the developments in Bahrain (from March 10 to 12 for other tests then during the first GP on March 20, editor's note). Probably not in Barcelona."

Comments collected during a virtual press briefing

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