There is little to choose between the range of different nose solutions seen on this year’s F1 cars in terms of performance, according to Ferrari’s chassis technical director James Allison.
The radically different noses have attracted considerable attention, mainly due to their aesthetic shortcomings.
“If you look around in the pit lane you’ll see there’s a different nose on every car,” Allison commented. “And there’s not too much similarity between any of the cars.”
“The reason for that is the nose rules allow quite a lot of geometrical freedom. So you go off exploring that freedom. The reason there isn’t a single solution is it’s not actually that sensitive an area so there’s lots and lots of different solutions that work.
“I came from another team before [Lotus] and that has a very aggressive solution, worked on that at the team, and ours has got another solution.
“But there’s really not that much in that. They’re just things that are good to talk about because they’re right up at the front of the car.”
The new regulations has stripped the cars of much of their downforce. “If you want a sort of quick rule of thumb, look at the size of the rear wings,” said Allison.
“We’ve got rear wings that are more or less Canada-type rear wings. So that’s roughly where the downforce of the car is. And also there’s not the blowing floor as there [was] last year.”
But he said the team are making rapid gains in that area. “The rules are also new rules and new rules offer up new opportunities. The rate of finding downforce is quite steep – you never know where that will slacken off but there isn’t any sign of it at the moment.”
2014 F1 season
- Which was F1’s best down-to-the-wire title fight?
- Fear of rules change led Mercedes to run dominant 2014 engine in “idle mode”
- Mercedes’ Bahrain battle “too dangerous” – Warwick
- Streiff’s comments on Bianchi crash investigation prompts legal action from FIA
- Is stewarding improving? Analysing 2014’s penalties
Browse all 2014 F1 season articles
Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
29th January 2014, 19:55
Means: “we’re still trying to find the loophole”
Wallbreaker (@wallbreaker)
29th January 2014, 20:01
Maybe McLaren did that for them.
AbeyG (@1abe)
29th January 2014, 20:35
@fer-no65
You got that right!
toiago (@toiago)
30th January 2014, 2:04
Perhaps. Still I’d like to know which is best, even if it’s just worth a one-hundredth of a second per lap.
Joe (@joetoml1n)
30th January 2014, 9:20
It’s all relative.. A part than improves 2 or 3 tenths on one car, might make another car the same amount slower..
Joe Papp (@joepa)
29th January 2014, 20:14
He would say that…he’s got to justify that ugly nose!
AdrianS
30th January 2014, 5:17
I’d rather have a handheld-vacuum nose than male genitals. The STR nose is borderline offensive! Apart from the obvious shape, it dangles down and has a bit of a head on the tip too.
Rally Man (@rally-man)
29th January 2014, 20:22
If there’s so little performance difference, please copy Mercedes then to have a nice looking Ferrari.
Nick (@npf1)
29th January 2014, 20:30
I think McLaren still owe Ferrari some photocopies..
BJ (@beejis60)
29th January 2014, 21:27
Photocopies of receipts to the tune of 100m?
GongTong (@gongtong)
29th January 2014, 21:34
Hahaha, @npf1. I liked that.
DaveD (@daved)
29th January 2014, 23:44
+1 LOL
Michel S. (@hircus)
30th January 2014, 9:22
Exactly, given there’s little performance difference what justified them making such ugly proboscii …
Atticus (@atticus-2)
29th January 2014, 20:28
Both Allison and Lowe said the new regulations allow for Spa- and Canada-like rear wings maximum only, which suggests to me that the range of aero trims – which were so-so wide back since at least the Nineties – should narrow further after they narrowed considerably in 2009 with the narrower rear wings.
Now I expect only Monza to get a different package.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
29th January 2014, 20:40
HRT were ahead of their time!
Back at the nose, what difference would a good-looking nose make? Something like the Renault 3.5 ones?
Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
30th January 2014, 8:45
@bullfrog
I bet they never expected to hear that lol
Alex McFarlane
30th January 2014, 11:45
Personally, I think a front end similar to that found on the DW12 indycar would make these cars look stunning, as most of them look pretty good at the back. Then all they’d need to do is allow the rear wing to match the width of the front wing and you could have some of the best looking cars of all time :-)
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
30th January 2014, 5:45
The noses might not be attractive, but they have introduced something that Formula 1 has been lacking for a while now: variety in the designs. Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, Williams, Lotus and Caterham have all come up with something different.