Formula 1: 3 times rule changes created ugly cars

Noses get worse in 2014

If you didn’t think Formula 1 noses could get any worse than they were in 2012, enter the turbulent times of the 2014 season. Once again, the catalyst for this preposterous creation was an adjustment to the technical regulations about nose height.

Technical regulations stated that “nose tip can be 550mm high and the chassis 625mm high, with a vanity panel allowed to hide the bump created by the step”. The goal was to avoid front-on impact with the cockpit by lowering the front point of the nose itself.

This led to teams taking one of two options. Ferrari and Mercedes developed noses that drooped down significantly to avoid a stepped nose design of previous years. The second option taken up by the teams with less financial support was to create an elongated structure and count it as part of the nose.

This resulted in most of the grid slapping incredibly odd and unsettling shapes to the front of their cars to meet the 550 millimeter-high nose tip.

As seen above on the 2014 competitor from Caterham, the bulbous shape was painted black in an effort to draw away from the visual discomfort. Lotus gave their best effort at ingenuity by developing a “twin tusk” nose that had two protruding sections that drooped down to meet the required height.

The developments were done away with for the 2015 season as teams quickly developed noses that assisted in aerodynamic efficiency and solved the eyesore that was 2014’s protruding shape.