F1 2021 concept front wing

F1 promises “more futuristic front wing” in final 2021 car design

2021 F1 season

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Formula 1 is planning further changes to the shape of front wings when the technical regulations are overhauled in 2021.

The sport is planning major changes to the rules in order to make it easier for cars to follow each other more closely. However the sport’s bosses have previously admitted they were dissatisfied with the aesthetics of the front wing on the proposed ‘India’ concept developed earlier this year (pictured above).

According to the series a new front wing shape has been developed for the latest version of its 2021 car, codenamed ‘Lima’.

“The latest front wing is more robust and no longer straight,” said a statement on the official F1 website, “instead featuring two sweeping flaps, with the endplates pointing upwards dramatically, much like the wing tip on a passenger plane. The tips won’t be loaded up, opening up an area for the teams to develop.”

Front wing were widened to two metres this year. While that is currently set to remain unchanged in 2021, the championship is evaluating whether the wings could be made narrower “without negatively impacting the turbulence”, which could make it harder for cars to follow each other closely.

Other changes on the ‘Lima’ concept include a lower nose and changes to the cockpit to give drivers more space. The floor, which features long tunnels to generate downforce, has also been revised.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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30 comments on “F1 promises “more futuristic front wing” in final 2021 car design”

  1. Ross Brawn if you’re reading this, glad to see that they are listening but more important than any of this stuff aesthetically is the damn length of these things. <2016 length or less please!

    1. YES. This has been my main gripe with the current cars. Hopefully this’ll be fixed for 2021

      1. @bujilog unfortunately the signs aren’t great. The wind tunnel model looked like it has the same kind of dimensions as current and they haven’t addressed the issue in any of the press releases.

        If the problem is teams lengthening the cars to fit in more aero devices then surely mandating a maximum length will help with simplifying the aero as well as improving aesthetics!

  2. As long as they put plenty of LED lights on it then it’ll be fine. They could have scrolling messages and animations across the front.

    1. …and fans could tweet live ‘good luck’ messages to be displayed on the wings during the races.

      We’ve got a real think-tank happening here. Feel free to contribute more suggestions to this below.

      1. We can have a ‘like’ system, so… for every like the driver has during the race, that could transform on more power or DRS time for him, and have it displayed on the engine cover.

  3. And there I was, worried about the new rules for nothing.

  4. Front wing were widened to two metres this year. While that is currently set to remain unchanged in 2021, the championship is evaluating whether the wings could be made narrower “without negatively impacting the turbulence”, which could make it harder for cars to follow each other closely.

    Well, the proper way to do that is to enclose the wheels inside the chassis.
    Further enhanced by completely removing the front wing and relying on “ground effect” exclusively.

    1. Radical concept, @mzso. I like it. For the open wheeled purist community, FIA could mandate all the fenders be covered with LCD screens with rotating images of rotating tyres.

      1. @jimmi-cynic That would be amusing. :)

  5. the more i hear about this rules overhaul the more i think this might just be the end

    1. Yup…the end of this chapter and on to a better one.

      1. Yeah. It is looking more and more like the end. They did this with the 2017 rules to make the car look more “aggressive”. Ridiculous. Then they want to double the amount of races to 42 or whatever. I am barely engaged with 21. Who has time for 42 races? Certainly not people that earn enough money to pay for the tv coverage.

        1. Who said the calendar is going to 42? I suggest if you are barely engaged with 21 races then sack it off and do something else with your time, some of us are really enjoying the sport. Singapore notwitstanding every race has been excellent since France and the pool of talent is fascinating to watch as young aggressive drivers try to make their mark.

          Honestly the F1 fanbase is so irritating sometimes, if they keep us informed with whats happening with 2021 people moan. If they dont update us people moan. If theres less races people will moan. If they increase the calendar people with moan. Some of you need to shut up and move on if it’s such a chore to follow the sport.

          Rant over.

          1. Here, here young man! Well said!

  6. So the new front wings might look something like this but instead of the end plate being its own part the wing maybe now curves up to create the endplate like a combination of these:
    https://i.redd.it/u7wxxj0s47621.jpg
    http://www.blraerospace.com/images/uploads/aircrafts/King-Air-200-Winglets-020-new.jpg
    If you google penske pc-22 road course you should find the car image if the image doesn’t work.

    1. @socksolid more like the original concept images then, I like it!

  7. How could something coming out in 2021 NOT be futuristic?

  8. If this one is ‘Lima’, that implies (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc . . .) that there were ten versions of the concept before this one. We know of ‘India’, so what were the others like?

    1. @nickwyatt
      iterations inbetween

  9. What exactly did they think was wrong with the aesthetics of the front wing in the ‘india’ concept?

    Besides aesthetics shouldn’t really be a consideration, At least not an important one. It should first & foremost be about performance, If it offers performance & works as intended that should be all that matters.

    1. +1
      Absolutely! Form should be entirely related to function, and not be driven by anyone’s idea of ‘beauty’.

    2. +1
      What good is a pretty car if the racing is poor?

      1. Aesthetics is part of it for the cars have to look cool too. I’m guessing the existing concept wing was too plain for what the rest of the car will look like, and as far as performance we know that the front wing for 2021 will be much less complicated as they will not be depending on it as much for downforce. So I don’t see any issues here…a good looking front wing that will be part of an overall package that won’t depend on wings nearly as much as now.

  10. And add LEDs. And stripes.
    Will be “ultimately futuristic”.

  11. Just specify a standard front wing and get it over with already!

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