Formula 1 will usher in a series of aero tweaks next season, but sporting boss Ross Brawn views the changes as a first phase destined to validate the regulation overhaul expected in 2021.
In a bid to promote closer racing and better overtaking, next season's designs will incorporate a new aero package that will include a less sophisticated front-wing design, simplified front brake ducts with no winglets and a wider, deeper rear wing.
For Brawn, the changes will obviously require validation, and serve as a basis for further evolution during the run-up to 2021. In short, it will be a trial and error approach to improving the racing up and down the field.
"What we learn from this aero programme will be very important for the next bigger step, in 2021," Brawn told Formula1.com.
"The point to stress is it’s a philosophy and a culture, not just a one-stop solution.
"If we don’t achieve everything we want to achieve with these changes, we’ll learn from it, press on and carry on with the next phase of changes and we’ll keep doing that until we get the cars in a form when they can race each other much more effectively, which they can’t at the moment.
"It’s useful to see if the teams have been able to evolve and take different directions because we don’t want to discover that in 2021."
The main point of the aero changes is to reduce the potential for 'outwash', a phenomenon that channels the air around the car rather than over the top, something that disrupts the wake and greatly restricts the ability of a following car to overtake
The technical task force put together by Brawn in the past 15 months and which includes former Benetton and Williams tech boss Pat Symonds, has witnessed relevant results under simulated conditions.
But only a full-scale test when the cars hit the track in Barcelona in February will provide a clear indication of the new regs' true impact.
"Until the cars run, we don’t know what solutions they have made, but from predictions, we’re achieving about 20% improvement," insist Brawn.
"So we’re about a quarter of the way there to where we think we could be. But it’s not a one-stop shop in the sense that you do this and then you don’t touch it anymore."
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