Will 2017's new F1 cars all look the same?

How different do you expect the 2017 cars to look from each other? Do new rules mean more different concepts, or are the teams all going to hit on the same solution?
Henry Smith, via email

Henry, for the first season I am pretty sure we will see a few differences from team to team. But this will mainly be in the smaller details. The regulations are so precise that no-one will be able to go out on a completely different direction with their design.

The cars should look more aggressive with bigger tyres, and if you look at the situation that we have - with teams struggling for finance - that change would have been enough on its own for 2017.

Every team, driver, enthusiast and viewers' biggest complaint is that the tyres are not up to the job and that overall performance is compromised by driving within the current rubber. Why not leave everything else alone and just change the offending item?

If budget was a concern, teams could have actually used their 2016 cars, bolted on wider and more aggressive tyres that come out of the back of a Pirelli truck and gone racing. If they wanted to build a new car, the choice would be theirs.

Currently, it's forced on them so in reality it's the rulemakers that have forced Manor out of business.

Why are F1 cars so much more reliable today than they once were?
David Baines, via email

Over the years, technology has meant the teams, with their bucketloads of data-logging, now have a much better idea of what the cars go through. They also have numerous test rigs and test facilities, meaning most of the failures happen in the workshops, away from prying eyes.

This, plus the fact that teams have grown in size so much, means everyone has their own area of responsibility and, with this, the time to optimise every minute detail.

At Jordan in 1991, we started the season with 28 employees. Then, it was about sticking your finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing; now, every team has a live link to base so someone thousands of miles away can tell them.

Going back even further to something like 1974 at Brabham, Gordon Murray wanted to understand some of the aerodynamics a little better, so we created one of the first pitot tubes I had ever seen.

We got a piece of wood about 4in wide by 10in high (metric hadn't been invented back then) and stapled a piece of 1/4in-diameter plastic tube to it in a U-shape. We had a small valve also mounted on this piece of wood to open and close the flow through the pipe. One end of the pipe was long enough to reach any part of the car and the other end went into a small chamber placed in the headrest area.

We half-filled the U section of the tube with something like diluted Ribena, as it was coloured and easier to see, and mounted it in the inside of the cockpit side. Then, we put the end of the long tube in front of the radiator, the driver went out and when he got up to a certain speed he would manually close the valve off.

He would come into the pits and we would take a reading. We would then move the pipe to behind the radiator and the driver would do exactly the same again. From that, we had a set of numbers that gave us the pressure drop across a radiator.

Now, teams create an aero rake that probably costs more than the car we had in 1974 and measure a huge amount of points at the same time.

What can we expect from Haas in 2017? Will it be strong enough to fight in the midfield again?
@Hyllesavs, via Twitter

The second season is always a tough one. We also have to remember that during 2016, Haas's performance didn't really improve; if anything overall it fell away. So the challenge is going to be analysing why that happened and making sure with the new design that it doesn't happen again.

Haas is still a relatively small team and going racing takes its toll on everyone. That, plus designing a new car at the same time and in the off-season finishing the design and building a new car, is very demanding and the window is very short. Remember, Haas was originally going to enter the championship in 2015, but put it off until '16 to give a little more time. There is no such opportunity this time around.

I expect Haas to be as good as it was in 2016, but being competitive against others is always relative to how the others have developed. For Haas to be competitive in the midfield will depend a lot on teams like Toro Rosso, Renault and Sauber.

All three of these teams should take a step forward in 2017, so it would be easy to still do as good a job as it did last year, but get left behind.

Would F1 cars benefit from four-wheel drive? I know it's not allowed anymore, but would the extra weight and complexity outweigh any benefits? I don't suppose front-wheel drive would work either?
Richard Pettret, via Facebook

Yes, Formula 1 cars would 'end up' faster with four-wheel drive rather than with rear-wheel drive, but not by very much. This would probably not happen immediately, but the teams would soon come to terms with minimising the losses and optimising the gains.

Any gain in tyre contact-patch area will always give more grip, and as current F1 cars are traction-limited on most circuits, four-wheel drive will give better traction.

As for front-wheel drive, this was really created for simplicity in road cars as the engine and gearbox all become one package, so are easier and simpler to manufacture, assemble and fit.

As far as performance is concerned, front- or rear-wheel-drive cars in the British Touring Car Championship can all win, so it is down to the circuit requirements and which system suits which best.

As you say, it's not allowed in the regulations and I'm afraid this is one regulation that I support. It would open up a huge bag of worms and expense that F1 is better off without.

How much effort do F1 teams go into eliminating things like rolling resistance? Can that cause a variation in performance between cars or is it much the same?
Gordon Tait, via email

In the past it was a huge thing, but as analysis packages and more manpower per team have become the norm, so has the understanding of packaging the bearing assembly.

As wheel bearings have developed into tiny, low-resistance angular contact ball bearings, grease-seal materials have changed to allow tiny rubbing surfaces, and greases have developed, it has become a very small effect.

It's still important to get it right, but you now don't have to reinvent the wheel to achieve that.

Could Paddy Lowe leaving Mercedes lead to the end of an era, similar to the Ferrari dream team breaking up after 2006?
Steven Eaglesham, via email

Mercedes has depth in numbers, but for me Paddy was the one that kept them all focused on the job in hand. It's never one person that's responsible for success, but he will need replacing. Will that be from within or with someone from outside?

If it's from inside, then at least everyone knows how each other works, and they knew how Paddy worked, so if they were clever they wouldn't try to change too much.

However, James Allison has been mentioned as a replacement and I think he is a clever guy. But he will be different and will want to work differently from Paddy, and that is what could trip Mercedes.

Is the fact F1 cars are getting heavier all the time damaging the spectacle? A heavier car is always going to be less impressive, isn't it?
Sally Hall, via email

Sally, yes, you are correct. On track, cars always look lazier, they don't jump off the corners in the same way and you can see that from low-fuel qualifying runs to heavier-fuel race runs.

Again, you are correct in saying that it's the 'spectacle' that counts, and the people that can do something about that in F1 don't seem concerned about this. Changes are made to satisfy themselves as opposed to the enthusiast, spectator or viewer.

Time will tell if the new owner Liberty Media actually opens its eyes and realises that F1 is actually a great circus that just needs the excitement of some of its acts rehashed.

Then it would become a must-see sport as opposed to an 'if I don't have the lawn to cut' sport.

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