Abiteboul says 2021 F1 regulations ‘80-90%’ done

Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul believes the 2021 Formula 1 regulations are up to 90% complete and that any missed deadline in June will not be a major problem.

A meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on June 14 in Paris had been targeted to outline new sporting and technical regulations for 2021, with F1’s owners Liberty Media keen to introduce a cost cap alongside revised revenue distribution. Although many teams remain skeptical that deadline will be hit -- with new agreements between the teams, F1 and the FIA required from the end of 2020 -- Abiteboul says the progress that has been made should not be overshadowed.

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“Will we have a signed contract by FIA, Formula 1 and all 10 teams by end of June or mid-June for the World Motor Council? No, obviously no,” Abiteboul said. “But in my opinion there has been a lot of groundwork already covered.

"I think it’s all about trying to agree what will be the key principles for 2021, from a commercial perspective, financial perspective, the key principles on the technical side and the sporting side. And in my opinion we are probably 80% or 90% from that point, from that milestone.

“So with enough faith and enough goodwill from all participants and probably a bit of a push from the key stakeholders, FIA and Formula 1, there is no reason why something cannot be presented at the World Motor Sport Council that will be advanced enough to give useful guidelines for the remainder of the year, so that we have a complete set of guidelines for the end of the year. That’s my opinion, obviously, but there is still some work to cover.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes whatever is released in June will still be open for negotiation and could change significantly during the rest of this year, but still sees the initial step as important.

“Look, I’m sure something is going to be presented,” Horner said. “It will probably be nowhere near what actually gets signed. I’m sure the regulations will change and evolve. Something will come out in June, it will change in September, October, probably in November, and there’s plenty of ground to cover; but there is a watershed where something will be put in front of us fairly shortly and then the fun really begins.”