It’s a bit like the Formula 1 of our dreams, with all the subjectivity that entails. At Motorsport.com, we wanted to see what a modern F1 car would look like, respecting the proportions of twenty years ago. An exercise that has its limits, and that responds above all to an aesthetic desire.
1 h
For several years, the Technical Regulations of Formula 1 have produced longer, heavier and wider single-seaters. In 20 years, they have lengthened by more than a meter and took almost 200 kg ! So much so that their performance, however exceptional, can seem, on the screen, almost harmless: they sometimes seem clumsy and borrowed compared to their counterparts of the past, more compact and agile… while they go faster.
Undoubtedly the “generous” proportions of modern single-seaters have something to do with it, and observers do not fail to underline the difference in size between contemporary F1s and those of yesteryear.
Asked in 2018 regarding the regulations then in force, which already gave pride of place to the lengthened and widened F1s, Daniel Ricciardo wanted to be nostalgic, drawing a parallel with the narrower F1s from 2009 to 2016: “Yeah, they were slow for our standards, but for a spectator it wasn’t necessarily different. But the race…you might follow, you might pass“. As for Sebastian Vettel, he declared in 2019, bluntly, that the wider front wings were “really ugly” !
Within the editorial staff Motorsport.com, we therefore came up with the idea of ”creating” a modern F1 from an aerodynamic and technical point of view, but meeting the dimensions of a 2002 single-seater. Out of curiosity, more than out of feasibility of course.
Comparison between the Motorsport.com concept and a 2022 model.
The length therefore increases from 5500 mm to 4500 mm, and the width from 200 mm to 180 mm. For the sake of proportion, the tires are also narrower, although their diameter remains comparable to modern envelopes. The tapered and simplified wings that made their appearance in 2022 are obviously part of the game, but their width has been reduced to the dimensions of 2002: the front wing, for example, is 60 cm shorter (140 mm instead of 200 current mm).
Essential safety element, the Halo is naturally present, as well as elongated pontoons which go to the cockpit, in order to house the side impact structures SIPS (Side Impact Protection System in English). The engine cover is scooped for the central exhaust outlet and the snout is directly attached to the front spoiler. We find a flat bottom which fully exploits the Venturi effect – more commonly known as ground effect –, which was widely highlighted during the presentation of the 2022 regulations.
We let you judge the result!
