12 of the weirdest Formula 1 aero ‘innovations’

Downright bizarre-looking things have turned up on the grid at various times in the sport’s history. Some have been outlawed before making a race start, some of them sealed their own fate by failing spectacularly, and some of the weirdest aero ideas have actually worked.

With aero remaining a perpetually hot topic in the F1 paddock, Wheels takes a look back at some of the oddballs the sport has spawned over the years.

Similar nose cone aero aids turned up in the ‘crazy wing’ era on cars like the 2006 BMW Sauber F1.06 and the 2008 Honda RA108.

A more conventional front end was adopted part way through '79 and everybody tried to forget about this aberration.

Tyrrell ran four, small diameter front wheels on the P34 to minimise air disruption and reduce drag, and it worked, though reportedly understeer was a problem.

Six-wheeled F1 cars were eventually banned, but not until much later. Ferrari had a go at the idea with the 1977 Ferrari 312T6, which ran four tyres on a single rear axle but it was too wide and unreliable and never raced. March (2-4-0) and Williams (FW07D and FW08B) both tested six-wheelers with four wheels on two driven rear axles, though they also never competed.

In essence, a huge turbine at the back sucked the car onto the road and allowed it to carry enormous speed through the bends.

Niki Lauda drove it to an easy victory; however the BT46 would never race again in this trim after the sport’s governing body pressured Brabham into withdrawing it due to the dangers of such high cornering speeds.

1997 was a rough year for the team as it languished at the bottom of the grid, though not without its share of the spotlight. Notable designer Harvey Postlethwaite penned these novel sidepod aero aids, as well as the single blade nose cone, and the car became known as the X-Wing for obvious reasons.

Ferrari, Jordan, Sauber and Prost all ran some variation of the ‘Tower Wings’ idea in the first half of the season until the FIA brought out its axe and banned them on safety grounds.

The team never found competitive pace and disappeared from the grid before the end of the season, but a similar concept appeared on the Jordan EJ11 in practice at Monaco in 2001