The 2021 regulation changes regarding the decrease of the rear surface of the floor and the ban of its designs don't help high rake philosophy cars like Red Bull Honda and Ferrari, and especially the Bulls are possibly going to face a hard time in the beginning of the 2021 season…

by Spyros Pettas

Many colleagues predict Red Bull Honda to win the Constructors Championship given the added input of a great driver like “Checo” Perez. It may be true or it may be not, but we are not so sure for the reason already explained… The inevitable decrease in rear downforce hurts high rake philosophy cars badly.

The changes of the regulations clearly help low rake Mercedes (what a surprise…) and Aston Martin. It's important to know that the ex Racing Point people were rubbing their hands with pleasure when the 2021 regulations came to the fore.

So we expect Vettel strong and Red Bull facing a difficult time in the beginning of the season but they will eventually figure it out, like they did in the second half of 2020, dominating Abu Dabi Grand Prix in the process.

And Ferrari? A bit better, but the new power unit is still going to be underpowered compared to its rivals with only 30 bhp more compared to last year (with only 1015 bhp in 2020 – Mercedes had 1065 bhp). We predict the return to the win but only after a big dose of luck. It will be very interesting to follow the great battle between Leclerc and Sainz at the red camp. Expect fireworks...

McLaren Mercedes and Renault with the added value of Ricciardo and Alonso respectively are going to be very strong in 2021.

Stay tunned...