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Binotto: New F1 regs won't level playing field 'immediately'

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto believes that F1's 2021 regulations will have a positive impact on the playing field, but only after several years.

Formula 1, the teams and the FIA have adopted a new set of rules that will govern the sport from 2021.

The changes will hopefully steer Grand Prix racing into a new era, in which the gap between F1's top tier teams and the midfield players will be significantly reduced, in terms of both performance and financial fairness.

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Binotto believes the transformation will indeed have a beneficial bearing on F1 and deliver a better spectacle on the track.

But any immediate changes to the current pecking order are unlikely according to the Scuderia chief.

"These new rules will provide stability to F1 for the next five years, but next year I think the teams with more resources will have a competitive advantage over the others," said Binotto, quoted by Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"In 2021, the scenario will not be very different from what we have today."

Have the changes therefore been decided in vain? Not exactly insists Binotto.

"Certainly the new regulations are designed in such a way that the degree of freedom of development will be greatly reduced compared to today," he added.

"I am quite convinced that we will arrive at a ceiling of performance soon enough

"Within three years of the regulations' introduction, the performance gap between the first and last will be reduced.

"In short, the goal that Liberty Media has set itself to level the playing field can be achieved, but it won’t happen immediately."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.