Formula 1 | Bran: Drivers consider old F1 cars ‘terrible’

Ross Brown explained the technical reasons for Formula 1’s decision to completely overhaul the single-seat design. The aim is to allow cars to follow each other more closely, with the F1 rules fully revised in 2022.

“It’s not just the way the air moves around the car, it’s the importance of the car’s design.” Bran explains. “If you look at modern Formula 1, there are a lot of complex aerodynamic shapes behind the front wheels and around the front wings.

“They are designed to work in a clean airflow. When they are disturbed by the airflow of a car in front of them, they stop working. So I was not too surprised to see how much the performance slows down.”

When Liberty Media asked them what was wrong with the design of the cars when the American company acquired the Discipline in 2017, those technical reasons were triggered by harsh criticism from drivers.

“Initially when we asked drivers about this problem, we talked to many drivers who had been racing on other Formulas, sports cars or other types of racing cars, and they all said Formula 1 cars were terrible.”

“We talked to drivers who drove sports cars or went through Formula 2. They all said the same thing. Approach the car in front of them without realizing the performance reduction they did not experience in other formulas, so we knew. There was a challenge, a problem we had to solve.