TURIN, Italy -- Ferrari technical director James Allison says his team's early work under the 2017 regulations is already producing a better looking car for next season.
A new set of technical regulations for 2017 have been designed to create a breed of faster, more aggressive looking F1 cars. The cars will be wider, with a lower and wider rear wing as well as fatter tyres all round. The regulations are primarily aimed at increasing downforce and mechanical grip, but are also written to avoid a repeat of some of the uglier designs in recent years.
Speaking about form versus function at the FIA Sport Conference in Turin, Allison said the new regulations promise to produce better looking cars.
"Formula One teams focus completely on function over form and what it ends up looking like is just what it ends up looking like," he said. "However, all of us -- or at least the vast majority of us -- want our product to be beautiful and therefore we want regulations that inherently make the cars beautiful, so that when we set out to focus on function only, the regulations naturally produce beautiful cars.
"We've made a little bit of a step forward to get rid of the horrible looking noses of a couple of years ago and next year's regulations are a very conscious effort to try to make the cars both unbelievably quick and also beautiful.
"The proportions of next year's cars are very appealing. For those of us who are lucky enough to be seeing them as they get created, they look nice. I'm looking forward to seeing them racing."