[barkbro]

The comparison in the article is pretty odd, but it's still amazing to see how much effort goes into engineering F1 cars. I wonder what they could produce if they were allowed to run free and didn't have to deal with F1 regulations.

[LoSboccacc]

They'd be as wide as the track and so frail people'd be killed for getting on a kerb at a bad angle :X

[nopzor]

I think the sport would be destroyed if they were allowed to run free.

By now they would have removed the driver, and that would take most of the $$ out of F1 ;)

The Williams 1993 car was in many ways the high point of tech for F1. Since then, I think FIA have been trying to balance the rules for (1) safety (2) balancing the role of the constructor and the driver, and ensuring that driver skill was a major part of the equation.

[pmontra]

They would have to remove the driver. Check the famous Red Bull concept car from 2010, only simulated, not built. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_X2010 500 km/h and 8 g lateral acceleration with the final design. I don't think you can drive a car like that for long.

The Williams car with active suspensions was the last technical improvement that was not a rules loophole up to maybe the Mercedes f-duct and wing stalling. F1 has become a spec formula with the only goal to keep lap times more or less constant and some common ground with production cars (the current hybrids, Le Mans too.)