The "completely mad" nose job that transformed F1 design

In 2021 Formula 1 will, for the first time in approximately 25 years, stray away from the commonplace raised nose designs. In their place, the front wing will now be directly attached to the nose; for the aesthete, the reversal will evoke memories of F1 challengers from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For the aerodynamicist, it will deprive them of a lucrative stream of downforce made available by opening up the centreline of the car.

Raised noses first entered F1 parlance in 1990, when Tyrrell unveiled its 019 - Autosport's Car of the Year in 1990 - in time for the third round of the season, held at Imola. Since then, every team on the grid began to adopt the concept - with varying designs - as it became apparent that the reduced blockage to the front of the car's undertray offered a considerable boost to the overall downforce.

Conceived by the late Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite and Jean-Claude Migeot, who had both moved to Tyrrell from Ferrari in 1989 following the death of the 'Old Man' Enzo Ferrari, the duo had put into practice the numerous design ideas that they had accumulated over the years.

The high nose, Migeot explains, had its roots in a design he had tested at least five years prior during his tenure at the former works Renault team.

"The idea came almost in the last test I did at Renault, back in '85," says Migeot (below, left, with Jean Alesi).

"By cutting a big slice of the monocoque underneath and seeing some gains on a very bad wind tunnel, I put that in my memory. Then the team closed down, so I had to find another job.

"And incredibly enough, because nobody knew me at the time, I had a call from Ferrari where I met Harvey Postlethwaite which was to start, I think, about 10 years' collaboration in various teams."

"We had a massive increase of downforce and I said, 'Oh, something must have broken on the wind tunnel. So, let's check everything'" Jean-Claude Migeot

Once Postlethwaite and Migeot had extricated themselves from Maranello and escaped to the milder climes of Ken Tyrrell's Ockham woodyard, they drafted a deceptively simple 018 chassis. Based on a development model of a Ferrari the two had designed, the aerodynamics were streamlined and featured a novel monoshock front suspension layout.

Fundamentally, the car was quick out of the box, and Michele Alboreto scored Tyrrell's first podium since 1983 - his own win in Detroit - in Mexico and gave the team an excellent base to work from for its next car. The 018 continued to sing once 'Uncle' Ken signed F3000 star Jean Alesi, who came armed with money from R.J. Reynolds' tobacco brand Camel.

Mechanically speaking, the 019 was largely similar to its predecessor, particularly at the rear end. Starting with the 018 model that Tyrrell had built for the Southampton University wind tunnel, Migeot put his high nose idea into practice, raising the front of the monocoque bulkhead to ensure a cleaner stream of airflow to the floor.

"Jean was completely at ease with the 018," Migeot explains, "and that made it very, very convincing for us we were again in the right direction.

"I had almost a year to put on the windtunnel my high nose idea, but it was almost a miss because I mixed it with another couple of ideas on the model. That provoked a meeting with Ken saying 'listen, French boffin, I'm not paying you to do silly things, what is this thing I've seen in the workshop?'"

"I said 'well please be patient, we were going to test it next weekend'. We put the rear of the car on a better base and we had the front wing like the Benetton the year after, which was the simplest structurally.

"What we ended up with, the gull-wings, as it has been called, was an aesthetic choice -there was no advantage compared to two vertical pylons and no flap in the middle.

"But that was really the biggest jump I ever saw in the winter when we removed the central flap. We had a massive increase of downforce and I said, 'Oh, something must have broken on the wind tunnel. So, let's check everything.' And it was not bad. It was really very big improvement in the underfloor.

"I think if it was anybody other than Harvey, the idea of raising the legs of the driver; other designers would say you are completely mad. We are raising the mass, the chassis will be higher, et cetera, so you know - forget it. Harvey said if it works in the tunnel, it's going to work on the track."

Postlethwaite then demonstrated the strength of the design by standing on the front wing at the 019's launch, which was beefed up as the 'gullwing' broke after just a single lap in testing at Silverstone.

The floor tray extended out, largely to fit the FIA's regulations on the flat-bottom floor and became widely adopted by teams seeking to try out the raised nose in subsequent seasons.

Although the 019 wouldn't debut until Round 3, Alesi - having remained at the team - starred regardless at the dawn of the 1990 season, leading the entire first half of the US Grand Prix at Phoenix in the 018.

With numerous slow corners, the Tyrrell was in its element, and the power disadvantage of the Cosworth DFR compared to the other engines on the grid was masked by the circuit's nature. While Alesi was passed by Ayrton Senna on lap 35, having successfully rebuffed his overtures for the lead a lap prior, the Frenchman secured his first F1 podium.

The 019 provided his next one just two races into its service. After a strong debut performance at Imola, in which Alesi chalked up a sixth-place finish from seventh on the grid, Monaco presented another opportunity for the 019 to showcase its strengths.

"In Monaco, in Phoenix, which were the two slow-corner tracks, the front suspension was magic" Jean-Claude Migeot

With the efficient aerodynamics and the well-designed monoshock front suspension, Alesi was able to thread the needle of the Monte-Carlo streets with precision, qualifying an excellent third and reprising his position from Phoenix - placing second behind Senna once again.

With the front suspension geometry creating a direct steering characteristic, almost on the knife-edge of snappy, Alesi was catered for, having forged a reputation as a driver who enjoyed a 'pointy' front end to a car. But as Migeot explains, the 019 had a secret addendum to its front suspension - two years before Williams perfected active suspension on its ground-breaking FW14B.

"[This is] something probably nobody knows," Migeot says.

"It was a bit before the active suspension, but we had this electric actuator on the front suspension, which allowed the driver to raise or lower the nose by one or two millimetres before each corner - so that was opening possibilities of setting up the car.

"Even more than that, the monoshock was even more sophisticated, with progressive or regressive roll stiffness. In Monaco, in Phoenix, which were the two slow-corner tracks, the front suspension was magic."

Having Pirelli's special qualifying tyres also helped Tyrrell vault up the field with consummate ease on a Saturday, but the degradation during a race stint meant that the team often struggled to capitalise on Alesi punching above his weight in qualifying.

In the second car, Satoru Nakajima - signed by Tyrrell with a view to snare a customer Honda engine deal - collected a brace of sixth places towards the end of the season. Most fittingly, the second of those points finishes came at Suzuka, although Nakajima had arguably been overshadowed at his home race by Aguri Suzuki's presence on the podium in a Larrousse.

The 019's spell on the F1 grid came to a slightly anti-climactic end, ironically so given the attention it had received at the beginning of the year. Although Adelaide was another largely low-and-slow course that Tyrrell had probably expected to perform well at, a flu-ridden Alesi could not capitalise on his fifth place starting berth, slipping to eighth with cramp in his right foot, while Nakajima's brakes faded in the second half of the race.

Tyrrell's follow-up car, the 020, retained many of the same characteristics as the 019, albeit with a modified rear end to accommodate the previous year's Honda engine - which ladled extra horsepower into the overall package.

But Alesi and Migeot had departed the team at the end of the year, while Postlethwaite left midway through 1991 to join sportscar frontrunners Sauber - which had designs on lodging its own F1 entry for '93.

Regardless, the 019 had already imprinted its legacy on F1. Benetton, Jordan and Footwork all employed raised noses for the '91 season, and by the close of '96, everyone on the grid had their own version of Migeot's concept.

By good fortune, Migeot crossed paths with the 019 about a decade later. After leaving Ferrari at the end of '92 to set up Fondmetal Technologies with Gabriele Rumi, he worked with a number of F1 teams as a consultant, including Tyrrell, Benetton and Minardi.

Having been unpaid by the latter, which was in dire straits by the end of 2000, he claimed his 019 design as payment from new Minardi owner Paul Stoddart - who had bought several of Tyrrell's assets after it was absorbed by BAR.

"It has very big advantage for me [that] I was not getting paid," Migeot remembers.

"And I knew Stoddart had bought or taken all the parts from Tyrrell - including all the cars. So I said to Stoddart 'look, you're not coming back if you're not paying, but it is what you owe me and we can fix a deal - you have a car that I would rather put in my home, it's called 019.

"That's why I had the 019 here for more than 15 years, and I could look at it every morning. Finally, two years ago, I sold it to Jean Alesi. I can see it when I meet Jean in Avignon, and Jean received the F92[A, Migeot's less-successful double-floor Ferrari] from [Luca di] Montezemolo when he left. So Jean is my museum."

Specifications

Chassis Carbon fibre monocoque

Suspension Double wishbones, pushrod-activated coil springs/dampers, monoshock front

Engine Ford Cosworth DFR naturally aspirated 90-degree V8

Engine Capacity 3493cc

Power 620bhp @ 12,000rpm

Gearbox six-speed manual Tyrrell/Hewland gearbox

Tyres Pirelli

Weight 505kg