New F1 era 'definitely coming in 2022': Ross Brawn

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LONDON: Formula 1’s new regulations, initially slated to come in next year but now pushed back to 2022, won’t be delayed any further, Ross Brawn, F1's managing director of motorsport, has insisted.

Racing Point chief Otmar Szafnauer told F1.com last month that he was pushing for the rules change to be further delayed in light of the coronavirus pandemic's effect on the current season, but Brawn says the new blueprint for the sport will be in place for 2022.

“I think some teams pushed to delay them a further year,” Brawn told F1's official website. "I think there’s a justifiable need to carry these [current] cars over into next year because we’re in the middle of the [lockdown]. That’s completely justified.

“The initiatives we’re bringing with these new regulations are to make the sport more economically viable in terms of the complexity, where the money is spent.

“With the cars we have now, they’re so complex that with the more you spend the quicker you’ll go and we need to level off that slope and create a situation where money is not the only priority in how competitive you’ll be.

“Therefore, we need these new cars to even that slope.

“We still want the great teams to win – [but] we need to maintain the integrity of the sport, to have the best teams winning, [however,] I think to have a competitive form of racing with these new regulations, the new cars, they’re a bit further away – but they’re definitely coming in 2022.”

On Monday Brawn also announced plans to reduce the budget cap coming in next year from $175 million down to $145 million as a response to the economic challenges presented by the virus outbreak.