Sebastian Vettel says he doesn’t understand why Formula 1 has brought back full-width front wings.

F1 previously permitted front wing to be the same width as the entire car between 2009 and 2013, when the upper limit on car width was 1,800mm. This year they have increase to match the full 2,000mm width of the new, wider cars which were introduced in 2017.

New rules introduced for the 2019 F1 season has forced teams to simplify their front wing designs in order to reduce the ‘outwashing’ effect which makes it harder for cars to follow each other closely. In order to recoup the downforce and performance lost from that change, the width of the front wings has been increased.

However Vettel is unimpressed with the aesthetics of the new wings.

“The front wing I think looks really ugly,” said the Ferrari driver in response to a question from RaceFans at the Circuit de Catalunya today. “I don’t understand why it is so wide.”

“I think years ago we went back because we said it’s actually bad for racing. Now we bring back wide, so maybe we forgot to take notes. I think if you look at the rest of the car it’s beautiful, the front wing for all the teams it looks a bit weird.”

Vettel isn’t the only driver to criticise the look of the cars – Max Verstappen said last year he wasn’t happy with the aesthetics of the new front wings. But Vettel gave a positive verdict on the handling of his car following the aerodynamic changes.

“It drives better than that it looks to be honest. You don’t you don’t feel the big difference. I think for everyone you know the question is how much you lost compared to last year. I think we are still catching up but it looks looks pretty good at this point.”

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2019 F1 season