Next year’s Formula 1 cars will look a bit like this

F1 cars are changing in 2022. And we mean properly changing – the new set of rules, which were originally supposed to come into force before the current F1 season, is all about encouraging closer, and therefore more exciting racing through simplified aero.

Revealed at Silverstone ahead of the British Grand Prix, this life-size model is the FIA’s interpretation of an F1 car built to this new set of rules. And doesn’t it look tremendous. The idea is that the redesigned wings and greater emphasis on ground-effect aero should mean cars can follow each other more closely, leading to harder wheel-to-wheel racing.

We’re told a 2021-spec F1 car loses 35 per cent of its downforce when running in “dirty air” 20 metres behind another car, or a whopping 47 per cent at ten metres. The new-spec cars should only lose four per cent of their downforce at 20 metres and 18 per cent at ten metres.

The new cars will also use 18-inch rims shod with new low-profile Pirelli rubber, and the minimum weight has increased to allow for more safety kit (next year’s cars must absorb 48 and 15 per cent more energy in front/rear crash tests respectively).

2022 F1 cars will still the same-spec power units as this year’s cars – 1.6-litre hybrids – but now running on E10 fuel.

We can’t wait to see what the teams come up with.