5 replies to this topic

[moffspeed]

OK I've just popped over from TNF.  Up until the mid-70's F1 cars could look radically different, plenty of scope within the regs to produce something unusual and potentially quicker than the run-of-the-mill stuff, often dependent on what configuration of engine you were using.  So most designs were instantly recognisable as belonging to a specific marque.

 

The argument these days is that you could take the 10 F1 team cars at launch, spray them all white and even the most enthusiastic of us would struggle to identify the different team cars. Basically tighter regs = homogenised designs.

 

Looking back, I reckon the Williams FW26 in 2004 was the last "launch car" that looked distinctly different from its contemporaries.

 

So, any surprises this year ??

[ConsiderAndGo]

OK I've just popped over from TNF.  Up until the mid-70's F1 cars could look radically different, plenty of scope within the regs to produce something unusual and potentially quicker than the run-of-the-mill stuff, often dependent on what configuration of engine you were using.  So most designs were instantly recognisable as belonging to a specific marque.

 

The argument these days is that you could take the 10 F1 team cars at launch, spray them all white and even the most enthusiastic of us would struggle to identify the different team cars. Basically tighter regs = homogenised designs.

 

Looking back, I reckon the Williams FW26 in 2004 was the last "launch car" that looked distinctly different from its contemporaries.

 

So, any surprises this year ??

 

Didn't pretty much every 2014 car look totally different from one another?

Edited by ConsiderAndGo, 05 February 2020 - 12:32.

[Kalmake]

Didn't pretty much every 2014 car look totally different from one another?

Yep, noses in particular. New regs create differences for a while. Year ago there were distinctly different front wing ideas.

[Risil]

Their noses were all ugly in a different way. I'm not sure I recall their differences and similarities elsewhere.

 

We have this debate every year but is this about standardized regs or is it about there being enough knowledge about race car aerodynamics to go round that everyone knows roughly how a competitive F1 car has to look. That 2004 Williams wasn't a notable success after all.

[TomNokoe]

Scarbs posted a drawing on Twitter last night of his Mercedes 2020 expectation.

[PayasYouRace]

Their noses were all ugly in a different way. I'm not sure I recall their differences and similarities elsewhere.

 

We have this debate every year but is this about standardized regs or is it about there being enough knowledge about race car aerodynamics to go round that everyone knows roughly how a competitive F1 car has to look. That 2004 Williams wasn't a notable success after all.

 

That bit. Unless you massively change the regulations making teams start from scratch with new ideas, we already know what makes a car fast and what doesn't, so the only differences are in the little details that extract the last hundredths.