BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — The poachers who have turned gamekeepers have been working hard to improve the Formula One game.

All that work will come to fruition when the major new technical rules package is introduced in 2021. The plan is to improve the show, increase overtaking, cut costs and make F-1 more entertaining, more accessible, and more sustainable from a both commercial and environmental perspectives.

Ross Brawn, Nikolas Tombazis, Pat Symonds, Steve Nielson and Rob Smedley all worked for F-1 teams as technical directors and engineers. Now they work for the FIA or Liberty Media’s Formula One company. They are working with other members of the FIA, Formula One, the teams and even the drivers to create an all round better F-1 in the future.

“In the past, the drivers never ran F-1,” Nico Hulkenberg said, “and I think they shouldn’t! But we can be listened to. If there are some crazy ideas, because we drive the cars and know how certain things would impact the driving, the show and the racing, we can say hang on guys this is a bit crazy or too extreme.”

Representing all the drivers, Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton attended meeting with the FIA and Formula One.

“It is going to be a group thing,” Hamilton said. “But what is really encouraging was that the drivers were there, and they (the FIA and Formula One) really took it on board.”

One thing the drivers and fans really want is more passing and fewer processional races. The problem with modern F-1 cars is that they create so much “dirty” air that the car behind loses downforce and the driver can’t get close enough to attempt a pass. Much of that dirty wake is created by the complicated front wings and bargeboards, so 2021 will see the return of ground effects downforce that uses Venturi-type tunnels under the car that do not create as much turbulence. Ground effects first appeared in F-1 in the late 1970s and was eventually banned at the end of 1982.

Tombazis, the FIA’s head of Single-Seater Technical Matters, said the 2021 car will go from the current 50 percent loss of downforce for the following car at two car distances to about a 5-10 percent loss.

On the tire front, wheel rim size in 2021 will be 18 inches compared to the 13 inches used for decades. Pirelli will create tires that will enable drivers to race, and don’t degrade or force drivers to manage them so much.

“They will need a broader working range and will not be as sensitive as the current tires,” Tombazis said.

Pat Symonds, the chief technical officer at Formula One, said that altering the characteristics of the tires will be a key component in creating closer racing, although requesting Pirelli to produce a super-hard, “Le Mans-type tire” that will go on and on and on is not part of the plan.

“The high degradation target is not the way to go,” he said, “however, we do believe that pit stops are important in F-1 and we know our fans enjoy these two-second stops. Some of the teams are going to help us with this task through simulation.”

A budget cap of $175 million and other cost controls – including a long list of standardized parts — will be introduced.

Formula One’s managing director of Motorsport Ross Brawn states that the performance gap between teams is too great. A key objective is to tighten the field up in 2021 by a nominal factor of around half.

“We have three teams that can win races at the moment, that’s all,” said Brawn. “Over the next couple of years, F-1 will be on a much better path where a really good, moderately-funded team, can cause a lot of trouble. That’s what we want. If you get a Charles Leclerc or a Max Verstappen in a midfield team, it can make a difference.”

The complete 2021 rules package must be in place by the end of October so that the teams can begin designing their 2021 cars.

F-1 engineers and designers are notorious for finding and exploiting loopholes in the regulations, so the poachers turned gamekeepers plan to put the new rules under a “stress test” to eliminate those loopholes. And if there is anybody who knows about loopholes it is these guys!