When Formula 1 Designers Get Creative

From wacky X-wings to double diffusers which delivered championships - Formula 1 has always been at the forefront of technical innovation, which can sometimes lead to interesting results!

Designers are always finding genius ways to sidestep FIA restrictions to create the fastest cars possible, and sometimes the results are insane. And sometimes, downright ugly.

But how did we end up with these ugly cars? What was the reason behind some of the ugliest F1 cars ever made?

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As we know, the design of a Formula 1 car is entirely defined by regulations, they restrict the dimensions of the car and dictate the space that designers can work with.

And over the years, designers have found genius loopholes through the rules - meaning the rules have got stricter and stricter to stop the designs getting out of hand.

Back in 1983, the FIA restrictions on bodywork were far less detailed than today.

The designers were given a huge amount of freedom to use their ingenuity, with a set of relatively simple dimension restrictions.

The length, width and height of the cars was restricted, along with the overhangs, but the total area allowed by the regulations gave us some insane looking F1 cars.

Take this Brabham BT52 from 1983.

The shape is like nothing we’ve seen in F1 before or since, with extremely short sidepods, an arrow-shaped body and radiators set way back in the car.

The regulations gave designer Gordon Murray the freedom to carry out his vision.

The 1983 regulations massively reduced the downforce generated by ground effects, but the cars still had more than 1000bhp to put through the rear tyres.

Murray thought that the only solution to make the car drivable was to shift the weight balance as far rearward as he could.

The freedom of Article 3 in 1983 allowed him to do this, extending the car’s wheelbase and fitting the radiators just ahead of the front wheels.

This genius design enabled driver Nelson Piquet to win his second world championship.

In the same year, Ferrari tried something radical, too, with the 126 C3.

Again, because of the insane power of the cars and the lack of ground effects, Ferrari wanted to maximize grip at the rear to make the car drivable.

But instead of chasing a rearward weight distribution like Gordon Murray, Ferrari designer Harvey Postlethwaite gave the car a gigantic rear wing, with extra winglets either side to produce huge downforce.

The 126 C3 looked insane, and the radical rear wing design meant that it recovered 50% of lost downforce from the lack of ground effects.

Ferrari was only able to do this because of the freedom given by the Article 3 bodywork regulations.
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