Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene claims his group of engineers are not fans of the 2021 Formula 1 car design concept published by Ross Brawn, comparing them to an “old Champ Car”.
On Friday, following the leak of images on social media on Thursday, F1’s managing director of motorsport released more rendering including two further concepts being developed ahead of a final decision late next year as to which shall be used in 2021.
Despite a largely positive reception, including from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton who described them as “dope” (because why not), the Scuderia, who has been a thorn in most areas regarding Liberty Media’s efforts at an overhaul was a rare neigh.
“I was asking our engineers what they thought about it, they said it’s a bit underwhelming in their opinion and it looks like an old Champ Car but it’s an exercise,” Arrivabene told Autosport.
Brawn, however, made his target with the new designs very clear in the article published on Formula1.com which revealed the current results of his work.
“When we started looking at the 2021 car, the primary objective was to enable the cars to race well together,” he declared.
“What we established early on in our research is the cars we have now are very bad in following each other.
“Once the cars get within a few car lengths of each other, they lose 50% of their downforce. That’s a substantial amount of performance lost. So we set about understanding why that was and how we can improve it. I’m pleased to say we’re at about 80%.
“As time has gone on, another of the primary objectives was to make great looking cars. We want cars that look better than what you see in a video game, cars that kids want to have up on their walls,” he added.
“At each stage, as we have been evolving the car, we’ve had someone we are working with create a graphic representation artist to give us a feel of what the car could look like.
“That is not to control the development, because it’s critical this development achieves its objectives, but why shouldn’t we have great looking cars as we’re evolving the cars? We want a car that is inspiring.
“F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and the car should look sensational.”
Ferrari’s apparent reservations come after former chairman Sergio Marchionne threatened to pull Ferrari out of F1 after 2020 over planned changes to the engines which are now unlikely to a lack of new manufacturer interest.
Following Marchionne’s sudden death, his replace Louis Camilleri has been a little softer, but with budget caps and now the design a possible area of contention, Arrivabene rules nothing out.
“Concerning the future, the Concorde Agreement, I spoke with our CEO,” he said. “The decision is something that is not mine. It’s going to be a strategic decision that involves the overall group.
“If somehow a certain agreement is not taking into consideration where the Ferrari is in the market, the DNA of Ferrari… I repeat, it’s a strategic decision.
“Of course I give my information, we discuss this, but he is the person who is going to talk with the appropriate people.”
