A beautiful car doesn’t necessarily mean a fast car
Over the years, there have been some glorious-looking Formula One cars on the grid, but not all of them were fast.
Take the Jaguar R1, for example — one of the most beautiful cars ever made to compete in the world of F1. It was phenomenal, which could be down to the green livery, but all Jaguar’s cars have been masterpieces.
On the performance side, however, things have been less of an oil painting and more of a train smash. Jaguar F1 recorded no victories and a handful of podiums in their F1 history, but did spawn the now dominant Red Bull team.
Jordan Grand Prix is another team that made breathtaking cars with very little success. Take the 197 in 1997 — the yellow car with a snake at its nose with its tongue running towards the driver’s helmet. It looked fantastic.
Or consider the Jordan from 1999 (called the 199). The snake had gone and in its place came a hornet. This car was to prove Jordan’s most successful, bringing them a couple of victories.
Sadly, the team are no more. They were acquired by several companies after 2005 and today are known as Force India-Mercedes.
Before 2000, the regulations seemed more relaxed and teams could experiment with car design. Take the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 in the 1970s, one of the most unusual cars to come out of F1. It took only one Grand Prix victory, at the hands of South African Jody Scheckter.
Ken Tyrrell kept that car a secret until it was unveiled, despite having to get smaller tyres from Goodyear, among other requirements. This sort of thing would not be possible today, sadly.
Another unique car from the 1970s was the Brabham BT46 from 1978, better known as the “Fan Car” due to the big fan at the back of the car sucking it to the ground in the corners. Designed by Gordon Murray, a South African, it won its first and only race in the hands of Niki Lauda.
F1 should return to the days where teams had the freedom to design any car they wanted. This would make racing more interesting for the viewers, as all the cars would not look the same.
However, drivers’ safety should never be compromised in the design process. The sport has lost way too many great drivers already.