Earlier today, Ferrari released a CGI render of what they hope will become the next generation of Formula One cars. The new design features wheels that are much more enclosed than those on the current cars and much wider side pods. The team has created both a front and rear renders of the car and has created a website where fans can feel free to comment on the concept. If you’re interesting in posting your opinion, you can find this website at f1concept.ferrari.com. The team feels that this design allows the car to be technologically advanced, while improving the appeal. There are groups of fans that like the design, but there are also groups of fans that hate it. I am on the hating side. There are a few issues with this concept that I will explain in this article.
First off, the car is considerably wider than the cars that we see today. The side pods and rear wing have both been stretched to have the wheels inside of the car. This means a few things. First, the wheels would, for the most part, be enclosed, much like the Formula-E cars. This means that we wouldn’t experience the thrilling battles, where drivers are literally interlocking their wheels. Secondly, the cars would take up more track space. This would affect narrow tracks and street circuits more than the others, but it would still be a factor. Cars wouldn’t be able to race side-by-side in the corners as often and would be less willing to do so if the opportunity presents itself.
The other factor that goes with the widened cars is teams would then be required to use more materials on the car. This would then add more weight to the car, which is not something that you want because additional weight slows the car. Formula One is a sport where ever gram matters and teams try so many things to reduce the weight. Not only does weight affect the speed of the car, but also the handling. A heavier car tends not to turn as well and usually experiences a lot of under steer. This again would affect the overall speed of the race because drivers would have to slow more when they get to a corner.
Cooling would be another issue with this car. The side pods of this render are hidden behind a large wing and tyres that would block more of the airflow into the side pods. The teams would rely heavily on the air intake from airhorn at the top of the car. The turbocharged engines require a lot more cooling than the previous V8s and we saw many teams struggling to get enough cooling during the development period in 2014. Teams just can’t afford to give up cooling in this design.
Another thing that teams just can’t afford is dumping countless dollars into developing these cars. With the sport in a financial crisis and teams going bankrupt left and right, it would be unreasonable to require an update of this size. Teams could progress slowly into a design similar to the concept, but even that could send teams like Force India, which is on the verge of a financial collapse, over the edge. Just changing the nose requirements every year requires a large amount of R&D time, which teams can’t afford.
Finally, I would like to disagree with Ferrari’s statement. This design is not at all appealing. This design is simply a fatter version of what the modern cars look like. In fact, we appear to have taken a step back by converting back to wide cars with enclosed tyres, similar to the cars that we saw in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The only difference is that the cars in those eras actually looked cool, unlike the render that has presented itself today. In my opinion, this design is beginning to look much more like a stock car. We’ve saw lots of new concepts in the recent years, especially with the closed cockpit fiasco last season, but this concept frightens me the most because it was created by a team with lots of power in the sport. It wasn’t just made by some guy who has become quite good at using Photoshop, but rather by a team that has enough power to get this design implemented. This design would just do no good for the sport.
