If things were banned based on aesthetics...

[tzerof1]

All throughout F1 history, designers have come up with various ugly and ungainly looking devices to try and eke out an advantage over the competition. Many have been banned. Some should be or should have been banned. But to the best of my knowledge nothing's ever been banned, just purely on the grounds of aesthetics alone.

So my question is: if things were able to be banned just on aesthetics alone, what would you ban? Anything from 1950-now is fair game...

I'll start off with an easy one and say the tower wings from 1997/98.

[ibsey]

EJ shirts along with Alain Prost's nose

No Seriously probably all those extra aero parts that started springing up on F1 cars bodywork since c. 2000. Especially Honda's Dumbo wings in 2008. Yuck, I feel dirty just thinking about them!

For me F1 cars should look sleek like they did between 1990 - 1999.

But to the best of my knowledge nothing's ever been banned, just purely on the grounds of aesthetics alone.

BTW I think the Tower wings (aka X wings) that you mentioned were banned, mainly on the grounds of aesthetics. The safety aspect of it falling off the cars, was really just a convenient excuse to help get rid of them.

[TomWazzleshaw]

The Ferrari F310. Full stop, new paragraph

[tzerof1]

EJ shirts along with Alain Prost's nose

No Seriously probably all those extra aero parts that started springing up on F1 cars bodywork since c. 2000. Especially Honda's Dumbo wings in 2008. Yuck, I feel dirty just thinking about them!

For me F1 cars should look sleek like they did between 1990 - 1999.

BTW I think the Tower wings (aka X wings) that you mentioned were banned, mainly on the grounds of aesthetics. The safety aspect of it falling off the cars, was really just a convenient excuse to help get rid of them.

Oh I know right! Those dumbo wings left me asking: is that really the best you could come up with Honda/ Ross Brawn? And also: How many zillions of pounds were spent developing them?

And about the tower wings I had heard some theories suspecting as much...also that Bernie Ecclestone himself may have pushed for the ban.

[tzerof1]

The Ferrari F310. Full stop, new paragraph

Haha! For sure. I daresay John Barnard could pen some ugly machines

[tommykl]

The Ensign N179

[tzerof1]

The Ensign N179

That is for sure right up there in the "butt-ugly, desperately slow" stakes. Makes this year's 'platypus' noses look like high quality art!

[ibsey]

The Ensign N179

Those front air intakes, look like they would make a great BBQ grill, for any roadkill collected during the race.

Also I didn't care much for the look of grooved 'slick' tyres from 1998 - 2009.

[AdrianSutil]

Eifelland had the glorious periscope mirror located in front of the driver. To the best of my knowlegde that was never actually banned but clearly shouldve been.

Some cars in 1998 looked good with the x-wings I thought. Prost and Ferrari were two of them. But they looked awful on the Sauber, Tyrrell and Jordan cars. I think the livery used by the teams swayed my decision if they looked good or not. I'll let you lot judge:

Tyrrell: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&cl ... .1l5l0#i=4

Sauber: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&cl ... l5l0#i=104

Ferrari: http://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch ... ih=208#i=3

[Londoner]

If I had my way, all the cars would either look like the Brawn BGP001, or from 1994-2000.

The 1983 Ligier should never have been allowed to take to the track. Cars without sidepods look ridiculous.

[mario]

Eifelland had the glorious periscope mirror located in front of the driver. To the best of my knowlegde that was never actually banned but clearly shouldve been.

Some cars in 1998 looked good with the x-wings I thought. Prost and Ferrari were two of them. But they looked awful on the Sauber, Tyrrell and Jordan cars. I think the livery used by the teams swayed my decision if they looked good or not. I'll let you lot judge:

Tyrrell: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&cl ... .1l5l0#i=4

Sauber: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&cl ... l5l0#i=104

Ferrari: http://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch ... ih=208#i=3

You might want to change those links, as when I clicked on them it defaulted to the Google Image search home page.

As to the ban on the X-wings themselves, whilst some might have objected on the grounds of aesthetics there were also some valid safety complaints. I believe that there was an accident in pre-season testing when a fuel line ended up catching on one of those X-wings during a practise pit stop, and there were complaints from the medical teams that the X-wings made it more awkward for them to access the cockpit area, particularly if they needed to lift a driver out of the cockpit.

There were similar complaints when Williams turned up a few years ago with vertical fins either side of the cockpit on the FW31, which the FIA took a strong exception to because of access problems for medical workers and promptly banned.

No Seriously probably all those extra aero parts that started springing up on F1 cars bodywork since c. 2000. Especially Honda's Dumbo wings in 2008. Yuck, I feel dirty just thinking about them.

What about the vertical fins that the BMW Sauber team ran in the 2006 French GP?

Predictably, those were promptly banned by the FIA after that race, although they fitted in pretty much the same area where most teams placed various aero devices later on (like Honda's "Dumbo wings").

Mind you, speaking of wings in peculiar places, what about the front wing of the Theodore TY01? That seems to have drawn inspiration from the March 711's front wing mount.

[TomWazzleshaw]

As to the ban on the X-wings themselves, whilst some might have objected on the grounds of aesthetics there were also some valid safety complaints. I believe that there was an accident in pre-season testing when a fuel line ended up catching on one of those X-wings during a practise pit stop, and there were complaints from the medical teams that the X-wings made it more awkward for them to access the cockpit area, particularly if they needed to lift a driver out of the cockpit.

From memory, Jean Alesi plucked one of those X-Wings off with an errant air hose after a pit stop in one of the early races as well.

[ibsey]

I believe that there was an accident in pre-season testing when a fuel line ended up catching on one of those X-wings during a practise pit stop,

Might as well correct you there. It was in fact Jean Alesi, in the Sauber that ran over an air gun during a pitstop at the 1998 Argentine GP. Afterwards you can clearly see him contiuning on despite only having one x-wing left on his car. Remarkably he finished 5th in that very race (his 2nd best result of that year after his 3rd place at Spa).

EDIT; Damn it. Wizzie beat me to posting that

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

I would ban the ugly nose of 2012 cars.

[CoopsII]

That stupid big-enough-for-a-pumpkin-to-pass-through-it nosecone that BMW-Williams failed with a few years back, 2004 I think.

[tzerof1]

Eifelland had the glorious periscope mirror located in front of the driver. To the best of my knowlegde that was never actually banned but clearly shouldve been.

It definitely should have been, what if that periscope detached and hit the driver?

[tzerof1]

The 1983 Ligier should never have been allowed to take to the track. Cars without sidepods look ridiculous.

I daresay no one would dare to design such an ugly thing these days.

[tzerof1]

That stupid big-enough-for-a-pumpkin-to-pass-through-it nosecone that BMW-Williams failed with a few years back, 2004 I think.

I believe it was called a "walrus nose" or something like that. And we all saw how well that worked out for them!

[tzerof1]

I would ban the ugly nose of 2012 cars.

I was waiting for someone to say that

[Ataxia]

Be grateful for the platypus noses, at least it isn't this:



...or this:



Not a fan of the mish-mash colour schemes either...

[tzerof1]

Be grateful for the platypus noses, at least it isn't this:
...or this:
not a fan of the mish-mash colour schemes either...

I know right! The Renault definitely wins "ugly duckling" award for 2009, that nose is so hideous. And funny you should mention the Forti FG02, it was quite ugly a far as 1996 cars went...though I have to say it's a lot better looking than the FG01

[Salamander]

Be grateful for the platypus noses, at least it isn't this:



...or this:



Not a fan of the mish-mash colour schemes either...

What are you talking about? Neither are anywhere near as godawful as the Ferrari and Sauber noses. The Renault's sidepods, on the other hand...

[tzerof1]

Not a fan of the mish-mash colour schemes either...

What are you talking about? Neither are anywhere near as godawful as the Ferrari and Sauber noses. The Renault's sidepods, on the other hand...

Speaking of colour schemes and Sauber...I have to say the Sauber's colour scheme is rather unattractive as well as the nose.

[wmetcalf68]

slowest_indian's car in his profile pic!

[dr-baker]

slowest_indian's car in his profile pic!

That Prost wasn't all that bad!

But of "things" to be banned based on aesthetics, the list should contain facial hair... Or are we talking exclusively cars here?

[Londoner]

slowest_indian's car in his profile pic!

That Prost wasn't all that bad!

The Ligier-derived JS45 wasn't a good looking car, the Prosts between 1998 and 2000 were things of beauty, with their metallic blue livery. Can't say the same thing for the AP04 though, quite a dull and unwieldy looking thing.

[tzerof1]

But of "things" to be banned based on aesthetics, the list should contain facial hair... Or are we talking exclusively cars here?

Well I did say anything... and anyone in particular you had in mind when you were thinking of facial hair (ie Nick Heidfeld)?

[dr-baker]

But of "things" to be banned based on aesthetics, the list should contain facial hair... Or are we talking exclusively cars here?

Well I did say anything... and anyone in particular you had in mind when you were thinking of facial hair (ie Nick Heidfeld)?

Heidfeld, Button, Hamilton, Liuzzi, Alonso's eyebrows, John Watson, Harald Ertl (although the last two were impressively bushy if I remember correctly)...

[tzerof1]

Heidfeld, Button, Hamilton, Liuzzi, Alonso's eyebrows, John Watson, Harald Ertl (although the last two were impressively bushy if I remember correctly)...

Siegfried Stohr, as I recall had quite the nest of facial hair as well..and what of Pedro Diniz's moustache? Graham Hill too if you like

[ibsey]

Heidfeld, Button, Hamilton, Liuzzi, Alonso's eyebrows, John Watson, Harald Ertl (although the last two were impressively bushy if I remember correctly)...

Siegfried Stohr, as I recall had quite the nest of facial hair as well..and what of Pedro Diniz's moustache? Graham Hill too if you like

Jenks circa. 1986... now he was the master of facial hair. Even a famous female model, who's name I forget now, couldn't resist it's charms. Just watch the 1986 FIA season review, in the build up to the Belgium GP to see what I mean (when Clive James says "that Jenks is no craddle snatcher").

I think the extensions to the rear wings teams brought to tracks like Adia in 1994 was also fairly ugly. Then of course there is the dreaded Mclaren mid wing in 1995...

[tzerof1]

Jenks circa. 1986... now he was the master of facial hair. Even a famous female model, who's name I forget now, couldn't resist it's charms. Just watch the 1986 FIA season review, in the build up to the Belgium GP to see what I mean (when Clive James says "that Jenks is no craddle snatcher").

I think the extensions to the rear wings teams brought to tracks like Adia in 1994 was also fairly ugly. Then of course there is the dreaded Mclaren mid wing in 1995...

Haha epic! And I never really understood that McLaren midwing...it really mutilated what would have been an otherwise reasonably attractive car.

[James1978]

The holes in the airboxes in 1994 (did they do that for safety reasons after Senna and Ratzenberger's deaths?) looked really stupid I thought. I seem to remember the Tyrrell one looking particularly terrible. The only one I liked was the Ferrari when they had the two holes in the side. Why didn't they just get rid of the airboxes altogether?

Also the shape of the airboxes on the Benetton and Ligier in early 1995 - they sorted them out mid-season.

[tzerof1]

The holes in the airboxes in 1994 (did they do that for safety reasons after Senna and Ratzenberger's deaths?) looked really stupid I thought. I seem to remember the Tyrrell one looking particularly terrible. The only one I liked was the Ferrari when they had the two holes in the side. Why didn't they just get rid of the airboxes altogether?

Also the shape of the airboxes on the Benetton and Ligier in early 1995 - they sorted them out mid-season.

The FIA mandated the airbox cutouts in 1994 after Senna's and Ratzenberger's deaths in an attempt to reduce the amount of air that reached the intake trumpets on the engine, thus making the engine less powerful and the car marginally safer. As for why they weren't completely done away with, I'm not too sure why.

[dr-baker]

Heidfeld, Button, Hamilton, Liuzzi, Alonso's eyebrows, John Watson, Harald Ertl (although the last two were impressively bushy if I remember correctly)...

Siegfried Stohr, as I recall had quite the nest of facial hair as well..and what of Pedro Diniz's moustache? Graham Hill too if you like

Mention of Graham Hill provoked a memory of Mansell's 'tasche too. Although that was more iconic than the current generation's unkempt facial hair look...

[Barbazza]

The 1995 McLaren. Zolder. Olivier Grouillard.

[AdrianSutil]

The 1995 McLaren. Zolder. Olivier Grouillard.

Oh how I laughed!!

[Ataxia]

Not a fan of the mish-mash colour schemes either...

What are you talking about? Neither are anywhere near as godawful as the Ferrari and Sauber noses. The Renault's sidepods, on the other hand...

Speaking of colour schemes and Sauber...I have to say the Sauber's colour scheme is rather unattractive as well as the nose.

I was gonna include the Sauber, but as Sunshine_Baby mentioned the 'platypus' noses, I thought I'd go for some different cars.

The Renault's there because it looks rather unwieldy and, well, tank-like. I chose the Forti FG03 as a) They had some dodgy colour schemes (red and green should never be seen, and the yellow livery also had red, blue, green and white), and b) The nose is somehow thin, but with some kind of bulbous gullet on the underside.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Be grateful for the platypus noses, at least it isn't this:

That, my friends, is the world's fastest anvil

[FullMetalJack]

The Ferrari F310. Full stop, new paragraph

The low nose version used at the start of 1996 is one of the most beautiful cars ever made.

They ruined it with the higher nose though.

[dr-baker]

The Ferrari F310. Full stop, new paragraph

The low nose version used at the start of 1996 is one of the most beautiful cars ever made.

They ruined it with the higher nose though.

Nope. Both noses were ugly. The cockpit surround was ugly. The sidepods and engine cover were ugly. The rear wing was ugly. The whole thing was just plain ugly. The Ferrari of 1994, however, was a work of beauty.