Still reeling from the thought that this year cars will sport the controversial Halo device, F1 fans should expect further shocks in the coming years as the cars become even more futuristic, according to the sport's technical boss, Ross Brawn.

"We've had designers working on the aesthetics of the cars for some time now," Brawn told Sky Sports, "and the aesthetics of the cars are a really important thing.

"I think we've done some great work on how you integrate the Halo, for instance," he continued, "because it looks like it's just been stuck on the car, which it quite literally has.

"It's obvious, but when you talk to the fans, they say the cars have got to look great," he claims. "They've almost got to look like derivatives of video games and evolve in a way where the video games take their key from Formula One, not the other way round."

"I think they'll look sensational," he enthused. “We're going to have some great-looking cars in the future, that's a really important thing for us."

While many fans might indeed want "great looking" cars, it is unclear whether they want to see the sport head down the Tron route, many left cold by the future as envisioned by Renault (pictured) and others.

The regulations introduced in 2017 were meant to make the cars look better, more aggressive, and while the success of that particular intention is up to the individual it did very little to improve the racing, indeed, as well-documented, overtaking was down 50% on 2016.

What fans really want is great racing, drivers being able to stalk their prey, dice and pounce when the time is right.

However, much like Zak Brown's reliance on McLaren's radical look for its garage this year, Ross Brawn and Liberty very much appear to be about the look of the sport, classic style over substance.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 14/01/2018 22:01

"This is one of the most depressing elements of the whole new F1 thing. Brawn of all people promoting this nonsense"

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2. Posted by vins0n, 14/01/2018 14:05

"So are the teams not designing the cars according to tech regs then? Will the look of the cars be mandated? Are the teams going to have to present their cars for approval or rejection according to how they look? TBH It's the last year of Free to Air so they can look like spaceships or dinosaurs. I won't be watching."

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3. Posted by The edge, 14/01/2018 11:03

"I would welcome more futuristic looking cars if they were designed to improve overtaking chances. The problem
With what Ro says is that if you simplify the front wing you loose front end grip and therefore overall downforce which will slow the cars in the corners significantly, and take away what makes F1 different.

Many in F1 have called for a sharp increased in ground effects and I’m at a loss to explain why F1 has not gone down this route.

Using Aston Martins RB 001 A’s an example, that’s the direction I believe F1 should be heading, after all the current F1 cars haven’t really progressed in philosophy for many years, not because that’s the best design for a race car necessarily, but because that’s the way ever more restrictive rules have made them look. There was once a time when there would be a variety of different looking cars in F1, nowadays the biggest difference seems to be how much Rake the team chooses to run, and even know all teams seem to be converging again.

Rock Doc, your entirely correct with what you say about the impossibility of writing the rules to produce these cars, but isn’t that the fun part?

Of course, the downside to this is obviously going to be a spending war once again, so the first thing Ross & Co. need to do is to agree a spending cap... unlikely in my opinion, and the second would be to pursued Ferrari to go along with this... probably even more unlikely given their hate of aerodynamics in F1"

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4. Posted by V10s4Me, 14/01/2018 11:02

"F1 cars will look better with a V10 in them. Let Formula E go and hug the trees and get back to "real" racing."

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5. Posted by Anthony, 13/01/2018 16:20

"I’ve just had an email from F1 to participate in a survey about what F1 fans are looking for. But you can’t participate if you live in the UK (although you can of course if you live in the US ...). As someone who has followed F1 for 50 years, I have a feeling that I should make the most of the next few years before Liberty wreck it."

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6. Posted by Ro, 13/01/2018 12:14

"Everybody is moaning about the lack of overtaking, yet the answer is plain for all to see. Get rid of the absurdly expensinive front wing and bring back a smaller one-plane wing. Then more advertising and less dependency on front grip. How come Indy cars can travel so close ? Same reason...front wing."

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7. Posted by Ro, 13/01/2018 12:14

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8. Posted by Lapps, 13/01/2018 11:22

"Ross’s goal used to be speed and efficiency. Now it is pleasing the marketing masters and banking the money. I fear F1 is in a much worse place than we realise. "

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9. Posted by Rock Doc, 12/01/2018 21:57

"As always the cars look will depend on the rules and how the designers interpret them to get the better of madam physics.

You only need to go back a couple of years to those humorous shaped noses that appeared on all the cars because that was the best way to interpret new rule changes.

As much as Ross Brawn and Zak Brown may want to control the look of the cars, it's not really down to them.

What has happened to Ross Brawn? That is the real question here."

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F1 looking for style over substance?

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