F1 Fanatic

March and Williams had a go at it as well (but with four wheels at the back) but they never competed.
I don’t think present regulations forbid it
From the FIA regulations book:
1.2 Automobile :
A land vehicle running on at least four non-aligned complete wheels, of which at least two are used for steering and at least two for propulsion.

But considering the fact that tyres have been much reduced in size since the 1970′s I am not sure it would bring such an advantage.

I’m pretty sure I read somwhere that a car must have 4 wheels.

Tyrrell’s thinking was that four small front wheels would provide better braking and grip (not a smaller frontal area – that’s a myth). It worked well initially, but the bespoke smaller front tyres couldn’t be developed at the same rate as the normal sized Goodyears everyone else was using. Also, having more wheels meant more weight at the front end which was always a problem. Scheckter hated the car but Depailler loved it.

As Jihelle said, both March and later Williams gave it a go with the four wheels at the back (The March proved impressive during a wet test session at Silverstone but was never raced; the Williams proved impressive at a Paul Ricard test but the FIA banned 6 wheels out of fear of drastically increasing speeds).

Ferrari also had it a go with 4 wheels at the back, but on the same axle. It was ridiculously wide and Reutemann had a bit of a shunt whilst testing it and didn’t really want to develop the idea…

Ferrari’s prototype was of the 312 T2, with four wheels at the back, two side-by-side. It was tested but it never raced.

http://www.myboxtv.com/public/Risorse/ventisetterosso/foto%20Ferrari%20a%206%20ruote.jpg

If they were allowed these days, would anyone use them.

apart from the extra weight there is the issue of pit stops, They would be much busier atleast, espesially if it has the same layout as the legendary Tyrtell

Hey, who knew Tyrell was sponsored by facebook in 1977!

I think if designers had their way there’d be eight wheels: Four small ones at the front and four at the back. With development the weight issues could be overcome considering the extra grip four front wheels gives.

Having four back wheels not only aids traction, but in wet weather the very rear axle could theoretically be equipped with slicks (or intermediates in very wet conditions) because the leading pair of rear wheels would displace a significant amount of water directly in front of the trailing pair.

Tyre wear would probably be much higher however, and I don’t think they’d be as nimble around the tighter tracks.