F1 2021: F1's new rules era to be revealed at US GP

Formula 1 is facing a pivotal day in shaping its future on Thursday as the sport reveals its technical regulations for the 2021 season and beyond.

After two years of planning, overseen by F1's Ross Brawn and Chase Carey together with the FIA's Jean Todt and Nikolas Tombazis and their respective teams, F1 is set for a radical change in two years' time - and the new rules will have a major impact on the look and pace of the cars, and potentially the pecking order at the front of the grid.

The announcement is expected at 4pm UK time on Thursday, where there will be a press conference in Austin featuring key figures from F1 and the FIA ahead of the United States GP. The rules are being voted on by the World Motor Sport Council on the same day.

Sky Sports F1 will have comprehensive coverage of the day's events, with a special analysis show 'The Future of Formula 1' airing at 10.30pm from Austin straight after Welcome to the Weekend.

What F1 aims to address

Since Liberty Media bought the sport's commercial rights in 2017, the sport's powerbrokers and governing body have been determined to close up the field and increase the F1's racing spectacle - with 2021, the first year beyond the existing Concorde Agreement, set as the time to introduce widespread change after a considered planning process.

One of the biggest complaints from drivers in recent years has been the difficulty in following the car in front - thus making overtaking a lot harder. That's one of the key changes F1 are looking for from the new cars.

Brawn told Sky Sports F1 in August that the new cars would make a "dramatic" change to F1 Sundays.

Already previously confirmed are new bigger 18-inch wheels, while F1 wants to introduce a budget cap to help close the field together. Currently, there is a huge gap between the top three teams - Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull - and the 'midfield'. A limit on spending could help close that gap, while a chance for teams to reset their cars after new regulations could eradicate it altogether.

Why F1 change has been sought

Since the French GP, F1 has arguably enjoyed its most enthralling stretch of races in years. From Max Verstappen's crazy win in Austria, to wet-race bedlam in Germany, to Ferrari's incredible qualifying streak after the summer break, the racing has often been sublime while new protagonists and rivalries in the sport have been born.

But Sunday's Mexican GP - while tense and close between the top three teams and top six drivers - was somewhat of an anticlimax as a spectacular finish failed to materialise, with Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc unable to get close enough to the race-winning Hamilton.

"Watching the end of this race when it hasn't developed as it could have and should have, reminds me why we need some big changes for 2021," said Sky F1's Martin Brundle. "We've got to make it easy for these cars to cruise up behind each other."

Overtaking, particularly without DRS, has often been far too difficult and thus, F1's rulemakers feel it is time to make a change. The last major rules revolution was ahead of the 2014 season, and since then Mercedes have won every constructors' and drivers' championship available. Rules revolutions, while dramatically changing the looks of the cars since F1's debut championship in the 1950, have often been due to advances in safety but in recent years they have been to improve the show or shake up the pecking order.