Why the end of F1’s design divergence is nothing to be sad about 

There is no more fitting phrase for describing Formula 1’s non-stop development war than: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” As the cars rolled out of the garages at the start of practice for last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, efforts by Red Bull’s closest rivals to topple it had further manifested themselves into the art of imitation. 

Where once we were treated to a rule set that had opened the door for some pretty divergent thinking when it came to optimising things for the new ground effect era, now things are properly converging. The zeropod that Mercedes had pursued was killed off as part of its Monaco Grand Prix update, and now Ferrari has abandoned its unique in-wash bathtub solution in favour of a step towards Red Bull’s downwash solution. 

While the current interim solutions on both the W14 and the SF-23 are not full-blown Red Bull copies – there have been some compromises forced by cooling and side-impact protection restrictions - it is evident that these are the first steps towards what will likely be full-blown downwash sidepods by the time the 2024 season starts. 

On the one hand, the convergence of designs marks a step in the wrong direction for F1, for many of us hate eras where the cars all look the same. It had been fascinating to see at the start of the new ground effect ruleset that teams had taken many different approaches to their sidepods – and that three different solutions all managed to win races. 

But with Red Bull having stepped things up a gear this year with its downwash RB19, the reality appears to have hit home that the zeropod and the inwash designs ended up hitting a development ceiling. So, while good initially, as teams got to grips with exactly what was needed for the new regulations, the diminishing returns from continuing to pursue those ideas forced hands in a change of approach.  

Yet while we may bemoan what now looks set to be F1’s cars becoming more identical in the most visible of areas (sidepods and bodywork), we should at least take some encouragement from the fact that the changes have not been done for aesthetic reasons: they have been done to help close that gap to Red Bull and make the racing closer. 

Red Bull's sidepod concept has been widely adopted in F1 having become established as the best effective solution

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

With Red Bull in a class of its own right now, and the team on a run of 16 victories from the last 17 grands prix, few fans would be upset if things did close up a bit to make races a bit more exciting. The truth of the change is that Mercedes and Ferrari haven’t changed concepts just for the sake of copying Red Bull; they have done so because they see the greater potential to close in on the front. 

As Ferrari’s Jock Clear explained in Barcelona, the changes are the result of a disciplined approach to make cars quickly. 

“When people launch their car, they're all convinced about it,” he said. “Nobody says we put these sidepods on, but we weren't convinced about them. We are all convinced about what we have but then we all have to learn from what other people are doing. But we also have to learn from what we're doing. 

"Other people will look at our car and try to, if they think they're going to go faster, take influence from it. It's fine" Paul Monaghan

“We're not copying anyone, per se, we're looking at what they did, we're going back to our tunnel, and trying to find out if that works. It's appeared on the car now because it works.  

“And ultimately, we only follow the science. The great thing about aerodynamics, and a great thing about this sport and the reason we do it, in my case for 30 years, is because every day is different, every year is different, every car is different. And we're still learning.  

“There are a million ways to solve the problems. And you're never going to cover all of them.” 

From Red Bull’s perspective, that its downwash solution has now become an accepted way forward, is certainly something to be flattered about: for it shows it got things spot on at the start of this rules era. 

Equally, F1 is a championship where no award is given for being first to an idea beyond the immediate lap time gain that you are able to gain from it. Once you have your design out there, then it is fair game for your rivals to get a photo of it, try to work out what benefit it brings and then, if it works for their own car, introduce it itself. 

Ferrari revealed its updated car in Barcelona in a bid to get its 2023 season belatedly under way

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

And it works both ways. Just as Red Bull’s rivals have adopted its sidepod concept, so too has the Milton Keynes-based squad done its own cut and pasting when it comes to ideas – as it introduced a floor and diffuser modification in Spain based on ideas that originally appeared on a Williams back in 2022. 

As Red Bull’s chief engineer, Paul Monaghan said: “You can't assume that you have the best solution in all areas of the car when you first put your car on the ground.  

“Our currency is lap time, isn't it? If you look, that piece of floor design was out early 2022, I recall the Williams had it quite early on, and some other people had it. It didn't necessarily work for us then.  We've looked at it a couple of times, but we were in a position where we could include that in that local bit of the floor, and we've done it.” 

Monaghan sees nothing unusual in Mercedes and Ferrari throwing in the towel on their own sidepod concepts and going down the Red Bull route. What matters most, at the end of the day, is producing a package of ideas that work together to create a race-winning car. And it doesn’t matter if those ideas are your own or someone’s else. 

“We go back to 2009, 2010, 2011, even '14, we were winning races with an overall similar package to that which Mercedes had,” he added. “So, we're not immune to doing it. Other people will look at our car and try to, if they think they're going to go faster, take influence from it. It's fine.  

“Ask McLaren about 2011 and what their car looked like when it was not quick. Then it appeared with some exhaust which looked just like ours, and it was quite quick. So, it's happened for many years, and it will carry on. It's a method of levelling the sport. There are no copyrights, are there?” 

So, RIP the zero pod and bathtub. Long live a grid of similar-looking downwash cars that are all closer together. 

The grid is converging on one concept, which hopefully should improve the fight at the front

Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images