"THIS IS THE END..." of an era. What you think?

[JamesB]

The last 10 years has seen the fugliest F1 cars ever. Glad they're gone.

Er... put it in few words.. YES!!
Great comments, guys!
Yes, Steffen... I am also surprised!! when I did the list mentally they seemed fewer!
Yes, daniel, Lotus, BMW... this thing of "I like them no more" has happened before.
The other day I thought that when I fumed on the HALO I could be like that cliche of a sporting club guy, with his motoring cap (They advertised them in the magazines as a good alternative to the helmet!! ), his moustache and his Loden coat, saying "What's that horrid tube they put behind Graham's head??? brave drivers dont need this thing!!"
Nevertheless it's obvious that a) with 40 years on this, actively, plus the expanded universe of waht we see on older pics, we have a perspective and can choose a preferred age... and b) here we say our country is our childhood, so we are specially fond of the cars that were trendy when we started following F1, I suppose.
Keep your comments coming and your opinions on what this age brought us, they are just so instructive

[stubeck]

I think they could have kept everything else, and just instituted the budget cap. We see decent racing in the midfield, but the top teams were able to design cars that couldn't handle being close to others the same way. I'm hoping that the new ideas around the series also bring back in person testing. The idea that an F1 team spending $500-600 mil a year like Mercedes on two cars can't afford a track day in the middle of the season is crazy. If I can afford a track day with my daily driver, or teams in WEC on $2-10 mil a season can, F1 teams certainly can get back to driving their cars on real tracks and giving the next generation real track time.

[smirkoff]

Well, my favorite F1 cars, for the looks, are the 60's "cigars with wheels" and the late 70's-early 80's wing cars, and my overall "top models" are the 640 series Ferraris and the surface-cooled BT46. But... I can't help to love F1 cars (and racing cars) of all the eras, and even don't bother if they have Halo or not. For sure there were some years that brought too much ugly cars, and 2014 for me is the absolute top of the ugliness, or "function over form" to say it in other way. 2009 is in the second place in "general ugliness" in my point of view, maybe saved by Ferrari. I really don't want and don't have kits of any car of 2014. But I would love to have the 2021 Merc and RB in plastic (one can dream, as they say...). The 2017-2021 cars, even being too long and having those overcomplicated bargeboards, have a mean look from the front that appeals to me some way.

[cbk57]

The last few years have been hands down my favorite era of F-1. Maybe though not for reasons you would think. I started watching in the late 1980s and watched nearly every race until F-1 went to speed vision in the U.S. My cable carrier for years did not offer that channel, so i missed most of the Michael Schumacher Ferrari era. Then F-1 started coming back a few races and then all of them. Liberty media came in and put all the races on commercial free. I did not realize how much better the viewing experience would be with no adds. For better or worse you don:t loose the flow of the race as it is not throwing an add in at every opportunity. The Schumacher era is my least favorite because I could not and did not watch any of the races I could only read about them in Autoweek, just not the same. Also now we have HD television again makes the experience much better. Last few years we have seen growing challenges to Mercedes culminating in a Red Bull Championship. for me this has been the hands down best period of F-1 because I could get the best experience from it. I hope for more of the same.

[43rdMichael]

Interesting topic James.

For me, the RB6 remains the pick of the bunch. There were some valiant efforts (the MP4/27 comes to mind) but in general, the modelling appeal for me faded.

I stopped watching the races about three years back.

Entirely subjective of course, but for me, 1970 - 2008 contains many many wonderful cars. More than i could ever hope to build.... my focus will likely remain on that period.

On 2022. Certainly curious to see the designs.

[SBEST]

Interesting as well for me.

I prefer the wing cars from 77-82 always, followed by the 89-94 style of the cars. It was to me the creativity and ingenuity that appealed to me.

[steinietrabi]

The subject is really interesting, but the opinions here are even more interesting.
Some surprise me, some don't. But everyone is somehow right and many speak to me from the heart.

I myself love the cars of the 90's and early 2000's, but that has to do with the fact that this is my time when I came to F1 and saw every race on TV.

The love for the older models first came about with the model making.
So many great vehicles and each one has its own peculiarity and technical sophistication.
Simply ingenious with which technology you were partly on the road and also in which danger.

But times have changed and also at a great speed - you always say it when talking about computers, but also in Formula 1 I would say it went faster and faster from the 90's onwards.
Ever faster changes and sometimes at the expense of the beauty of the vehicles.
I also found the introduction of the high cockpit surround in 1996, for example, mega ugly, today it’s absolutely all over again.

I can't really handle the cars in the early 2010s, I didn't think the proportions were nice anymore, but as many have already said, how you read is absolutely a matter of taste.

But I think it was always the endeavor to reduce costs, to make the vehicles more durable, to test new technologies in racing for the road and to move closer together with all teams. Whether it has always been possible to make the races more interesting is the question - but a new big step will come in 2022 and we will see how it goes on and whether it works as they imagine it.

Nevertheless for modeling, it is less interesting for me how I personally judge the cars visually.
I like building them because they are all formula cars and because every model and vehicle has its own technology that needs to be understood.
Simply great objects of engineering.

[stubeck]

The subject is really interesting, but the opinions here are even more interesting.
Some surprise me, some don't. But everyone is somehow right and many speak to me from the heart.

I myself love the cars of the 90's and early 2000's, but that has to do with the fact that this is my time when I came to F1 and saw every race on TV.

<snip>

I think this is often forgotten by many. When anything is new to you, you tend to have more interest in it than after you've watched for years. I still prefer these cars the most of any of them to build, and usually only choose the newer cars because of either a favorite driver or the design.I've lost interest in F1 a bit over the last few years for a number of reasons, but as long as others are enjoying it, thats OK.

[JamesB]

Keep them coming guys, really interesting. Yes thomas, in fact the interest of the subject is due to the interest of the answers.
Yes its nice to see the things we all share and also the different approaches.
And surely there seems to be this common denominator of "the age I got hooked, the age I love", quite frequently.
Yes, stu. I'd say our surprise capability must decrease with time.
I can remember the WOW effect I had watching, for instance, the 1988 cars. I can picture myself picking the magazine at the shop, getting back to my parents' car, sitting there and watching the new look cars with eyes like plates.
Good to see someone has enjoyed these recent seasons the more, as cbk.
MArcos I also share this thing of having favs, but also being interested in some due to technical features and even technical challenges in terms of modeling them as Tomas says.
What we can say is that everyone, in their own way, loves F1 really!!
Other day I'll try to make a list of those that impressed me the more at first sight...

[BMW]

I have to say, I am a bit saddened that some of you are not following current F1, or are not interested in the cars that were recently racing.
Mind you, I do not think less of you! I just think it is sad that F1 has not (continued) to capture your attention.

But in fairness, its only lately that F1 has tried too hard and become WWF1 and I hope (I really really hope) that after this debacle F1 will do an about turn and try to regain some of its integrity so you can follow it again.

The 1960s and 1970s seem to be the most popular time periods for the models. I can understand that. The 1960s cigar shapes were pretty to look at, and the 1970s brought the most innovation (and dead ends).
In the 1980s all cars became copies of each other, with big boxy sidepods and giant rear wings, and it did not get much better afterwards.
But there were both still developments, and the racing was just as good if not better. At least there we got races with more than 6 finishers.

Some cars I build for their technical prowess, and some for memorable races/drivers. I wholeheartedly recommend that approach.