Most Beautiful F1 Cars Ever

Arrows A21 of 2000 - just missed out on this list!

There's so much to love about Formula 1 but the one thing that surely gets people excited about a sport where the cars go round and round 50 odd times on a Sunday afternoon has to be those cars.

In fact, it is often a beautiful F1 chassis that is a winner especially in a sport where wind tunnels are mandatory and aerodynamic efficiency is nirvana. Of course the aero age only really took off in the late 1970s courtesy of Colin Chapman's ground effect Lotus cars, but there were some beauties well before that.

Here are 10 of the most beautiful F1 cars ever designed - and probably some of the most memorable and successful ever.

Mercedes-Benz W196
Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss won 9 out of 12 races in the so-called Silver Arrows, with Fangio winning the championship in 1954 and 1955. The W196 came in a streamlined body suited for the super fast tracks like Monza and a conventional open wheel version for twistier tracks like the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife. An early F1 classic.

Ferrari 156 F1
The iconic sharknose was designed by Ferrari to comply with the new rules for the 1961 season. Phil Hill drove the 156 to his one and only driver's championship as well as a constructor's championship for the Scuderia. The 156 raced on until 1964 before it was replaced by the 158.

Lotus 49
The first ever car to be powered by the longtime hit, the Cosworth DFV, the Lotus 49 was a winner from 1967 to 1970 in the hands of Jim Clark and Graham Hill. Sadly, the great Clark died before he would win a championship in the car but Hill won the car's first title in 1968.


Lotus 79

Another Lotus to define Formula 1, the Lotus 79 was the first ground effect car to really dominate the sport. While the Lotus 78 did pioneer ground effect in Formula 1 the season before, the 79 was the first ground effect car to win the driver's and constructor's championship with American Mario Andretti winning the 1978 title with four 1-2 finishes. The great Swede, Ronnie Peterson, was also a winner but sadly died after sustaining major injuries in a crash at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix.

Brabham BMW BT52
This wasn't the best car on the grid in 1983, but it made history by becoming the first turbocharged car to win the driver's championship courtesy of Nelson Piquet, cuing a turbocharged era that would last until they were outlawed for the 1989 season. The BMW engine was probably one of the most powerful ever producing up to 850 bhp for qualifying. My favourite Gordon Murray car.

Williams-Renault FW14
Quite possibly the most technologically advanced F1 car ever made as it featured all the automatic gearbox, traction control and active suspension tech which would at some stage in the future be banned by the FIA. Nigel Mansell swept all aside in 1992 with the first truly great Williams-Renault after a highly promising  1991 winning the drivers championship with 5 rounds to spare. Given the current stance on driver aids, Adrian Newey's FW14 along with its successor the FW15 might turn out to be the only ones of their kind.  

McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13
Another Newey classic and another silver beauty. McLaren's first championship winner since 1991 and Mercedes' since the 1950s was one for the aerodynamicists to cherish with its sleek nose and body. It swept aside its rivals early in the 1998 season and it was only Michael Schumacher's genius in the inferior Ferrari that ensured the championship would go down to the wire.

Ferrari F2002
The zenith of the Schumacher/Brawn era at Ferrari. 15 from 19 wins, 11 pole positions, 15 fastest laps, 9 1-2 finishes including 5 straight at the end of the 2002 season, this was quite possibly the most dominant F1 car in history. And it sure looked good too. The F2004 2 years later was similarly dominant but really was inspired by this defining design by Rory Byrne.


Brawn BGP01

A car that harked back to an era in F1 where privateers could still win races. The BGP01 may not have had many corporate logos as the other cars on the grid but it was a whole lot faster out of the blocks than all of them at the start of 2009, deservedly winning the constructor's championship at the end of the season along with helping Jenson Button win his first ever driver's championship. And to think we almost never got to see this beauty race when Brawn's predecessor, Honda announced it was pulling out at the end of the 2008 season.

Red Bull RB7
Probably the most dominant car since the Ferrari F2002 in the hands of an in-form reigning world champion, the RB7 is surely Red Bull's best ever car with 12 wins, 18 poles and 10 fastest laps. The RB7 also achieved 3 1-2 finishes but probably should have had more if Mark Webber was on top of his game. And the Red Bull livery has always looked so damn good on an F1 car.
 
And the one that never raced...

McLaren MP4-18
A story of what might have been. Designed to race in the 2003 season, the MP4-18 was supposed to be a revolution and take McLaren-Mercedes back in front of the dominant Ferraris. Alas, testing was a nightmare and the car failed the compulsory FIA crash tests. As a result, Kimi Raikkonen's title chances were stymied - amazing that he hung onto the finish in what was essentially an upgrade of the inferior MP4-17. Cues from the MP4-18 were passed onto its successors though, including the sleek thin nose.