Formula 1 "will look very different when it emerges from its winter hibernation" in '17, according to Andrew Benson of the BBC. Teams are faced with "a radically revamped set of rules that will lead to faster, more dramatic-looking machinery." Cars will be wider, with "big, fat" tires, and reshaped front and rear wings. In theory, drivers "will be tested physically in a way they have not been for nearly a decade." The idea is to "inject a bit of edge and rawness that some feel F1 has lost" in the past few years -- and "hopefully end three years of Mercedes domination." The plan with the new rules is to make cars up to five seconds a lap faster and "test the drivers physically more than they have been" since Pirelli tires entered F1 in '11. The changes include:
- The total width of the cars -- the "track" -- has been increased from 1,800mm to 2,000mm, "returning them" to pre-'98 dimensions.
- The bodywork has been widened from 1,400mm to 1,600mm -- "wider than ever before."
- The area under the car with which teams can produce downforce "has been significantly increased."
- The front wing has been widened and "will now be a delta-shape, while the rear wing has been made lower and wider."
- Tires are bigger -- up from 245mm wide to 305mm at the front and from 325mm to 405mm at the rear (BBC, 1/9).
