F1 New 2017 Regulations

So everyone pretty much knows what the changes are to the F1 2017 regulations; wider cars, wider tires front and rear, wider front and rear wings and proper tyre compounds that will let the drivers push their cars to the maximum.... The idea with the geometry changes to the car and tyres (i.e. everything wider) is to make the cars look more aggressive and menacing - more like real race cars.

 

We even had one team already modify an existing car to match the wider dimensions and strap on a sample of the new tires from Pirelli:

Oh I'm sorry...did I get that image mixed up...??  Let me just correct that, my apologies...

So what we have here, is a look to the future of F1, a bold new vision never before seen ..

Except... we have.

The McLaren MP4/4 above shares a lot of the look of the newly proposed regulations and illustrates that there is nothing new in the 2017 regulations that we have not seen before. The changes will not make overtaking easier (it may make mistakes more costly however) and the only people to benefit from the suggested changes will be the drivers themsleves, as they are going to have a much more physically challenging and demanding vehicle in their hands... Lucky them.

F1's 'new' regulations is just history turning full circle... desperately trying to strike that magic Formula that will make F1 more exciting again. I remember when they narrowed the cars to make it easier to overtake. I remember when they narrowed the tyres to reduce the danger that a loose and flying wheel would represent to spectators and marshals alike (now somehow forgotten). I remember when they added grooves to the tyres to slow the cars down in corners as the cars were judged to have become too fast. All attempts to liven the spectacle of F1 - and now these changes are being, one by one, undone.

I think going back to the 80s style of car is the right thing to do but the only way to really make F1 exciting agian is to reduce the formula's dependency on aerodynamics, by clamping down even harder on what is and isn't allowed and by simplifying and standardising the design of wings and undertrays. This would also, incidentally, bring down the budgets reuquired to run an F1 team; removing the need to run wind-tunnels 24/7 or purchase and use expensive super computers to crunch away at CFD calculations all day and night.

Only then, I believe, will F1 successfully recpature the magic and entertainment they seem so desperate to find of the glory years of Formula 1 in the 80s and earlier.