Scuderia Fisher-Price

Have you seen Ferrari's new F60? No, it's not a replacement for its Enzo flagship but rather, its latest in a long line (make that 60 years long, hence the name) of Formula One contenders. And certainly when you look at it, the words that flow through your mind are less "world-class racing" and more "Fisher-Price"...


Like a few people who've seen it, I initially thought that this would be a look that we would eventually get used to. But after a few days, some thought and the subsequent launch of Toyota's own TF109...


...my opinion changed.

This year's crop of cars will never look "right".

Some people may argue that with every rule change - and it's always the rules that dictate the shape of the car - there's always a certain time before a car's new look becomes comfortable to look at. But in the past, no matter how revolutionary the changes were, all the cars had a certain rightness in their proportions.

Take, for instance, an F1 car from last year (like this BMW Sauber, and spamming my own blog with my photo in the process)...


...and one from, say, 1950 (like this, Nino Farina's championship-winning Alfa Romeo)...


The two of these cars couldn't be more disparate, yet they are both pretty in their own right. One, heavily-bespoilered yet somehow sleek; the other - devoid of any aerodynamic devices - elegant and pure. And most importantly, both look proportionate.

Which is more than can be said of this year's cars. The huge new front wings make the cars (despite undoubtedly occupying the same footprint as their predecessors) look small, almost go-kart-like - a look exacerbated by the narrow-yet-tall rear wings.

True, these changes are due to new rules designed to make races more interesting (the new wings are said to encourage overtaking), but surely there are better solutions out there. I mean, '90s racing was close, and they didn't have to resort to this...

But one thing's for sure - with all these new rules and regulations - and the teams struggling to cope with them - this season is shaping up to be a good one. Who knows, maybe these new appendages do work after all.

Oh, and by the way, Ferrari, lose the spinners/wheel covers. Yes, they're there for aerodynamic reasons, but nothing says 'cheap' like hubcaps on a US$25m car.