Ferrari have become the first team to unveil their 2009 contender. After seeing a proper 2009 car in the flesh, I think that the cars won’t look as bad as feared, but a trick or two has been missed in making the cars look a bit more balanced.
Front Wing Endplates – These appear to end along with the end of the front axle stubs and as so, they give the impression of making the wing look longer than the front track. If the wing and endplates had matched the width of the tyres, rather than the permissible width of the car, it would have looked much better.
Rear Wing Side Fences – These now look completely outsized compared to the cut-down length of the wing. The size of these was increased a few years back and looked weird at the time, it now looks terrible with the smaller width of 2009 wings, combined with the increased height. Indycar-style end fences would be much better looking.
Rear Tyres – The restricted (since 1993) size of these has negatively affected the setup of F1 cars for years, and nowadays with the 2009 regs, makes the car look awfully unbalanced. Wide, ans slightly bigger diameter rears (again, a la indycar) would make a subtle but important change in the look of the cars. Funnily enough, it would also make the car much more able to handle its power and may force car design to put the weight distribution further to the rear.
Having said that the net result is nowhere near as bad as the 1998 narrow track rule changes…and we all got used to that!
P.S – Following on from my Groupie-inspired post on the Ferrari 412T2, i found this excellent home video of the weekend of Jean Alesi’s first, and only, F1 win in the 412T2 at Canada in 1995. Its just a nice difference of perspective:
