The modern F1 beauty debacle

[Paulo Mendonça]

Browsing through the car reveal posts recently I noticed a lot of people displeased with the way the cars look. So it got me wondering: am I the only one who absolutely loves the way modern F1 cars look?

I think these cars have very futuristic, aggressive aero designs and, the best part is that they perform extremely well!

I can understand the hate towards the halo which admittedly seems a very rushed kind of solution that doesn't blend well with the rest of the design and looks out of place despite all the effort, but the front wings (which I've seen many hate towards) and all the rest of the car parts are gorgeous IMHO and very futuristic, efficient and, most of all, perform greatly.

Am I alone in my point of view?

 

[Turk]

I'm not a huge fan of complicated busy car design that around lately. Lots of sharp lines, holes and bits sticking out all over the place. IE: the new Honda Civic. I don't hate the F1 cars I think they sometimes look like a heavily modified F1 car where they added a load of stuff after they designed the car.

What I appreciate about race car design is that it's practical, it's like evolution in animals, everything serves a purpose. I think the problem with these modern cars is they haven't really proven themselves, they're still sort of new and it's hard to reference them against the cars people have grown to love. I don't think F1 car have ever been all that pretty, we've just associated that shape with something that's brilliant.

I do like things being practical though, part of what I don't like about modern F1 is that it's a shape decided by a safety committee rather than how a machine would evolve to become the fastest driving machine, at this stage I'd almost like to see what modern engineering could create if there were no rules and then make that car safer, rather than hold onto a shape from the last century because people are emotionally attached to it.

At the moment F1 is more product than sport, they spend too much time trying to appease the masses and the sport takes second place to that commercial interest. It's loosing credibility fast, although all sports are.