Formula1 Cars

The Ultimate Top 10 Formula one cars

 10: Ferrari F2007 (2007)

The Ferrari F1 Team is exactly like the people who buy their road cars—they are brash, arrogant, and obsessively self-absorbed. Unfortunately, they build beautiful race cars, and the F2007 is no exception.

The only car in this list to have been built since the turn of the millennium (just keeping out the McLaren MP4/20), the F2007 is an engineering masterpiece—as are all cars of the modern era—but this Ferrari stands out from the pack.

9: Arrows A2 (1979)

Conceptually, it was brilliant making the front wings into winglets and bringing them inboard and maximizing the body size so as to maximize the benefit of the ground effects skirts.

Converting the concept into on-road performance, however, seemed somewhat more challenging. The car terrified its unfortunate drivers and was all but undriveable on bumpy roads with the car breaking ‘suction’ at inopportune moments.

 8 Williams FW16 (1994)

The FW16 will be forever be associated with the death of Ayrton Senna. Despite that, it was a beautiful car. It was the last of the F1 cars with a proper nose and it was the first one with the uber-stylish Rothmans livery.

The car was problematic, with designer Adrian Newey referring to it as a “bloody awful cock-up.” The return to non-assisted suspension, after two years of active suspension, apparently proving to be more difficult than imagined. This, coupled with some aero package issues resulted in a car that was challenging to drive.

7: BRM P160 (1971)

After declaring the 1970’s a disaster zone for aesthetics, the BRM P160 comes in at No. 7 to prove me wrong. It was one of the last cars to avoid the ludicrous, jester’s hat airboxes that became the must-have accessory for an F1 car through to around 1976.

Its shovel nose, simple wings and understated, predominantly white livery complemented the rounded sidepods to deliver a car that was the standout of the 1971 series and the last car to not induce nausea for almost a decade.

6: Maserati 250F (1967)

Any car driven by Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio, and Alberto Ascari has some serious credibility in the F1 world. Maserati 250F is one of the best formula 1 cars.

5: BRABHAM BT52 (1983)

Thi car was bolted to an insane, turbocharged BMW engine that was capable of 1300 brake horsepower in qualifying configuration and carried Nelson Piquet to his second world championship

4. McLAREN MP4-5 (1989)

In the now universally recognized Marlboro livery, the MP4/5 absolutely dominated the 1989 season, despite the simmering feud between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost that threatened to derail their progress towards the driver’s and constructor’s championships.

The MP4/5 took pole position in 15 of the 16 races and won 10. The Prost-Senna rivalry drove development of the car at a ridiculous pace and left their competitors in their wake.

3: LOTUS 97T (1985)

The Lotus 97T was one of the last of the stunning black and gold John Player Special cars that started with the 72 and finished with the 98T.

It was a livery widely believed to be the best ever on an F1 car and the 97T was a magnificent example of the series, eclipsing its successor by virtue of the chromed rims looked infinitely better than the black ones.

The 97T stood apart from the earlier 72, 77, 78, and 79 models in that it was more tapered, not the flattened shape that was typical of the 1970s.

2: NGLO AMERICAN RACING EAGLE (1967)

The hand of former Lotus designer Len Terry was very evident in this gem from the golden-era of F1. It was built by Dan Gurney and the legendary Carroll Shelby as an “All American” tilt at the world of Formula One

1: LOTUS 49 (1967)

The fact that the two most beautiful cars in F1 history raced against each other is an unlikely, but nonetheless real, coincidence. The fact that the cars looked strikingly similar, thanks to the influence of Len Terry, made comparisons inevitable.
The 49 became the backbone for the Lotus team’s first tentative steps into the world of wings and served them through until 1970 when it was replaced with the Lotus 72