Imagine F1 Without Downforce

Hell has frozen over, and Ollie's found himself agreeing with Ferrari's whining. Do you?

18 May 2015

Back before the start of the 2012 F1 season, it looked like Ferrari’s ugly, slow, and amazingly named F2012 was going to be hopeless this year. It was so shoddy in pre-season testing that it even got Ferrari CEO Luca de Montezemelo all upset, and he turned round and had a pop at the entire sport of F1. His complaint? “We do not build cars any more, we build aeroplanes.”

No, Luca hadn’t gone completely mad from too much time in the Italian sun. Mr dM was moaning that getting downforce right was so critical in F1, the actual car itself wasn’t that important. The bits of a car we’re familiar with: brakes, engine, chassis, etc, just weren’t in the same league as the tiny aero nerdiness that creates world champs.

Normally, I’d have that down as yet more Ferrari whining, but here’s the thing: despite Ferrari (okay, Alonso) actually having a really good season, I agree with the boss man. Aero rules F1, and it shouldn’t.

Almost everything is regulated now. Car minimum weight. Engine size and power. Tyres and car size. Wouldn’t it be interesting to introduce some room for manoeuvre with those aspects, and take away some of the Adrian Newey-ness from the sport. Might help overtaking too, rather than having to create it artificially by removing downforce with DRS...

Then there’s the old racecar – roadcar tech argument. Even really basic cars now have anti-lock brakes, traction and stability control, and plenty of sports cars have active ride height and launch control. All of those gadgets have featured in F1 at some point, but been binned for fear of taking away the responsibility of the driver. Fair enough, but doesn’t knowing that you can take scary corners totally flat without breaking a sweat (or traction) do exactly the same thing?

The latest must-have on high-end supercars, ironically, is active aero. Pop-up spoilers are standard fare on the Mercedes SLS and McLaren 12C, but there’s cleverer stuff out there, too. Think Ferrari 458 deforming winglet moustache. Think Bugatti Veyron double wing and active ride height. And McLaren P1, er, everything. You can bet your One Direction VIP ticket that the new Ferrari Enzo will have some kerazy aero gubbins going on, too. Proper downforce is coming to the road, kids (for about half a million quid a pop).

F1 is up for a big rule-change in 2014. V8s are out, and turbo engines are in. There’ll be new tracks and new drivers. There’s no word at all that aero rules will change much too – the current formula seems to be popular even if the overtaking is a bit too drag-race predictable at times, but it’s an interesting thought. An F1 car that doesn’t stick to the ground, and couldn’t theoretically drive along the roof of a tunnel. It could even be safer, having lower cornering speeds. And just imagine the drifts...