McLaren director Tim Goss: 2017 cars 'just look meaner'

2017 will see some new regulation changes for Formula 1 vehicles, and according to McLaren's technial director Tim Goss, the cars 'just look meaner.'

“These 2017 cars are lower and squatter; they just look meaner,” Goss told McLaren’s website. “The lower rear wing, big fat tyres and big diffuser look cool - they look mean."

Among the changes to the vehicles will be a wider, swept-back front wing - the car itself is now 200mm wider - and corresponding changes at the rear of the car.

“The rear wing is also wider and lower - which helps make the whole car look lower and wider,” added Goss. “And there are some visual styling cues that have been introduced: the rear is swept back in side-view, and the sidepod intakes are angled in plan-view. It’s definitely a ‘meaner’ look.

“And there’s a detail in the rear-wing endplate regulations; they step in - and that curviness is another styling feature that adds to the general ‘aura’ around the new shape.”

Under the 2017 rules teams will also be able to run much larger bargeboards in front of the car’s sidepods.

“In the 2016 regulations, the scope for bargeboard development was quite small,” he continued. “Now we can run them to the full height of the chassis, they can go a lot further forward and sit wider outboard. We can also stack devices within that area - so you’ll see a lot more complication in that area, a little like we saw in previous regulatory eras.”