Ross Brawn says F1 cars from 2021 need to look sensational, like 'video games'

[Vyssion]

The only thing that is important is the speed and the racing. Brawn's ideas about having video game cars just shows that he hasn't got a clue about how to make F1 work. He's pushing the party line from Liberty. The party line appears to be to make F1 "American" with comic book cars.

The silly "designer wet dream" cars from RedBull, McLaren etc are just that - styling games with no real thought about racing.

The only way to make them fast and able to race is to bring in active aero/suspension. This will allow the cars to compensate for downforce losses and let the drivers races have other.

Trust me, if the drivers are able to race each other properly, no one is going to care what the cars look like because noone will notice them.

I personally loved the 2008 cars where basically, aerodynamicists were free to add any little aero device they wanted all over the car. I think that the complexity of knowing that every single surface is there to either generate some vortex or act as a flow director just means that there is an incredible amount of complexity built into something that looks really quite beautiful. Perhaps this is the CFD Aerodynamicist in me coming out, but I loved that era

Aesthetics in the "modern era" are all about sci-fy-ing it up imo and have little interest in preserving the aerodynamic performance that current cars have vs. acting as click bait for likes and ad revenue on the websites they are featured on.

I mean... common.... Look at this!!

[marmer]

Closed cockpits have nothing to do with whether a car is considered a LMP1 prototype or Formula! I cannot believe people say this nonsense! I like McLaren MP4-X and the Red Bull Car.

we are just saying the general style being too far from current F1 and would make it look like Lmp1

[Ennis]

The only thing that is important is the speed and the racing. Brawn's ideas about having video game cars just shows that he hasn't got a clue about how to make F1 work. He's pushing the party line from Liberty. The party line appears to be to make F1 "American" with comic book cars.

The silly "designer wet dream" cars from RedBull, McLaren etc are just that - styling games with no real thought about racing.

The only way to make them fast and able to race is to bring in active aero/suspension. This will allow the cars to compensate for downforce losses and let the drivers races have other.

Trust me, if the drivers are able to race each other properly, no one is going to care what the cars look like because noone will notice them.

People do care how an F1 car looks. People aren't going to get too caught up over whether the wheelbase is 10cm shorter, or the rear wing a few cm higher, but the overall look matters to a lot of people - whether it matters to you or not.

People seem to be taking Brawn's comments in a way that I don't think they were intended. I think he means they should look pleasing to the eye, that's it. He used a turn of phrase to say they should look cool. He didn't say form should be sacrificed, he didn't say the racing doesn't matter, he didn't say that the racing would be sacrificed to make the cars look like the Piranha P.666 v.Prototype. All he said was that the cars should look cool, much like he has spoke in the past about needing to make the racing more exciting, needing to close the gap between the teams, etc.

[FrukostScones]

The only thing that is important is the speed and the racing. Brawn's ideas about having video game cars just shows that he hasn't got a clue about how to make F1 work. He's pushing the party line from Liberty. The party line appears to be to make F1 "American" with comic book cars.

The silly "designer wet dream" cars from RedBull, McLaren etc are just that - styling games with no real thought about racing.

The only way to make them fast and able to race is to bring in active aero/suspension. This will allow the cars to compensate for downforce losses and let the drivers races have other.

Trust me, if the drivers are able to race each other properly, no one is going to care what the cars look like because noone will notice them.

exactly, BRAWN should work on the dirty air problem and not the irrelevant aestethics oft F1, even taking away the front wing or splitting the rear wing should be an Option. Talking about spectacular cars and Video games looks is just silly. 2017 would have been even more better looking (visually shorter) without the prescribed "slanted look". Shorten the cars (refueling) and it would be quite ideal.

[Thunder]

Yes surely Brawn meant that quote as "only agressive Optics matter Pal, screw Racing...."

[GM7]

Ross Brawn :

"We have just initiated our aerodynamic program to have a look at the design of these cars and see what we can do in the future to make them more raceable. That is something we are doing with the FIA, we are starting a research program. I don't want to call it an 'overtaking working group', because that is not what we are looking to do. We are looking to create a group that can look at the design of cars presently and in the future to make sure they are raceable, because the feedback from the drivers is it is difficult."

"We know that we rely on the aerodynamics for performance of the car. There is a slightly naive view that we should get rid of the aerodynamics and then everything will be wonderful. The fact is it won't be as spectacular and they won't go as fast as they are if we get rid of the aerodynamics. There is no way of just putting on bigger tires and hoping you will go as fast as they will.

"So we need to retain the aerodynamics but we need to do it in a way that makes the cars more raceable. You cannot guess that, you have to do work to establish it. But I don't think we are taking anything for granted. We are fortunate that we have got some great racing going on, and we need to make sure we can do that more consistently in the future."

[marmer]

Hate to tell Ross but you can make cars faster by making them have bigger tyres. The last year have proved that

[djos]

The only thing that is important is the speed and the racing. Brawn's ideas about having video game cars just shows that he hasn't got a clue about how to make F1 work. He's pushing the party line from Liberty. The party line appears to be to make F1 "American" with comic book cars.

The silly "designer wet dream" cars from RedBull, McLaren etc are just that - styling games with no real thought about racing.

The only way to make them fast and able to race is to bring in active aero/suspension. This will allow the cars to compensate for downforce losses and let the drivers races have other.

Trust me, if the drivers are able to race each other properly, no one is going to care what the cars look like because noone will notice them.

I personally loved the 2008 cars where basically, aerodynamicists were free to add any little aero device they wanted all over the car. I think that the complexity of knowing that every single surface is there to either generate some vortex or act as a flow director just means that there is an incredible amount of complexity built into something that looks really quite beautiful. Perhaps this is the CFD Aerodynamicist in me coming out, but I loved that era

Aesthetics in the "modern era" are all about sci-fy-ing it up imo and have little interest in preserving the aerodynamic performance that current cars have vs. acting as click bait for likes and ad revenue on the websites they are featured on.

I mean... common.... Look at this!!
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/ ... unch_2.jpg
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/ ... unch_4.jpg
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/ ... unch_3.jpg
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/ ... 0_b-17.jpg

Those cars had incredibly turbulent wakes which actually hurt the racing imo.

Imo the current cars are quite good looking but the barge board and front wing areas need to be simplified (eg mandate simpler triple element front wings that are less sensitive to turbulence) and we need to return to fully length underbody tunnels (no moving skirts tho) and active suspension.

[roon]

I personally loved the 2008 cars

I like this era as well. The current crop are similarly complex and look quite good, as well. The RBs got us through the interim.

[toraabe]

I have been criticized from being in favour of Ground effect cars, but groundeffect makes sense.
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news ... be-996501/

[mclaren111]

I have been criticized from being in favour of Ground effect cars, but groundeffect makes sense.
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news ... be-996501/

Surely it can be split ?? 60/40 or 70/30

The problem is finding the right balance and how this will effect the "look" of the cars as well.

[adrianjordan]

The only thing that is important is the speed and the racing. Brawn's ideas about having video game cars just shows that he hasn't got a clue about how to make F1 work. He's pushing the party line from Liberty. The party line appears to be to make F1 "American" with comic book cars.

The silly "designer wet dream" cars from RedBull, McLaren etc are just that - styling games with no real thought about racing.

The only way to make them fast and able to race is to bring in active aero/suspension. This will allow the cars to compensate for downforce losses and let the drivers races have other.

Trust me, if the drivers are able to race each other properly, no one is going to care what the cars look like because noone will notice them.

People do care how an F1 car looks. People aren't going to get too caught up over whether the wheelbase is 10cm shorter, or the rear wing a few cm higher, but the overall look matters to a lot of people - whether it matters to you or not.

People seem to be taking Brawn's comments in a way that I don't think they were intended. I think he means they should look pleasing to the eye, that's it. He used a turn of phrase to say they should look cool. He didn't say form should be sacrificed, he didn't say the racing doesn't matter, he didn't say that the racing would be sacrificed to make the cars look like the Piranha P.666 v.Prototype. All he said was that the cars should look cool, much like he has spoke in the past about needing to make the racing more exciting, needing to close the gap between the teams, etc.

This!!

[Big Tea]

Form follows function? Is it going to be regulated with games in mind?
Perhaps the drivers have to steal the best car first and get points for damage.

[strad]

"We've had designers working on the aesthetics of the cars for some time now," Brawn told Sky Sports, "and the aesthetics of the cars are a really important thing.

.
Not Performance, aesthetics.
.
Definition: adjective
1. relating to the philosophy of aesthetics; concerned with notions such as the beautiful and the ugly.
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2 Relating to the science of aesthetics; concerned with the study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty.
.
3. having a sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty.
.
4. relating to, involving, or concerned with pure emotion and sensation as opposed to pure intellectuality.
.
noun :
.
5. the philosophical theory or set of principles governing the idea of beauty at a given time and place.
.
Brawn: "It's obvious, but when you talk to the fans, they say the cars have got to look great," he claims. "They've almost got to look like derivatives of video games .
""The regulations introduced in 2017 were meant to make the cars look better, more aggressive, and while the success of that particular intention is up to the individual it did very little to improve the racing....
.
It is clear to me that Ross and the FIA are more interested in appearance than performance. As are so many things these days.
To me it is far more important how they perform over how they look.

[AJI]

To me it is far more important how they perform over how they look.

Question: Would you say that the 'dong' noses of 2014, which were there to maintain the 'performance' of the high nose, but were used to work around the new low nose safety rules, didn't bother you from an aesthetic POV?