who is the best designer of formula 1 cars and who is the worst?

Question

for me the best is a toss up between
either Rory Byrne or Adrian Newey
(i wonder how fast the car would be if these two designed it between them)

worst f1 designers
the guy who designs this years Hondas, Toyotas.
agree ,disagree or any others.

Answer 1

If you only want me to choose between those two, then I'd go for Adrian Newey. If I've got a free choice from the whole of history I'd be inclined to go for either Gordon Murray, Colin Chapman or Harvey Postlethwaite.

Gordon Murray produced the Brabhams of the 70s and the early-to-mid 80s, as well as the all-conquering McLarens of 1988 and 1989. He was generally acknowledged to be the most innovative designer of his time.
Originally a missile designer, he was snapped up by Brabham at the start of the 70s and appointed chief designer when Bernie Ecclestone took over, designing the famous "fan-car" in 1978 and both of Nelson Piquet's championship-winning Brabhams. He left for McLaren when Brabham temporarily withdrew in 1987, designing their F1 cars between 1988 and 1992. He ran McLaren's roadcar division from 1991-2004 and was responsible for the McLaren F1 supercar and the Mercedes SLR McLaren.
Colin Chapman designed cars many several years ahead of their time, as well as some horrible flops. He founded "Lotus" in 1952 (so named because the late nights spent working made the engineers fall asleep), designed the Lotus (now better known as Caterham) 7 in 1957, and went into F1 in 1958. His association with Jim Clark is legendary, winning F1 championships in 1963 and 1965, as well as the Indy 500 in 1965. He was chiefly responsible for the introduction of aeronautical technology into F1, including pioneering the monocoque chassis, the use of composite materials, and the use of aerodynamic wings. Lotus was also among the first motorsport competitors to move into non-trade advertising when they started to be sponsored by Gold Leaf Tobacco in 1968. He designed the classic Lotus 25, 68, 72 and 78s, and with the Lotus 77 he created the "ground effect" phenomenon which would dominate F1 design until banned after 1982.
Harvey Postlethwaite started at Hesketh and worked on the car that James Hunt took to his first F1 win, before moving to Wolf and designing their race winning 1977 car. After 1979 he briefly went to Fittipaldi, before starting his association with Ferrari in 1981 with a brief to resolve the team's horrible chassis problems. He designed the car which should have won the 1982 world title, a year of "ifs"...if Villeneuve hadn't been killed, if Pironi hadn't had his accident, if Tambay had driven the whole season...the car still won the constructors title in 82&83. He stayed at Ferrari until 1987 when the merry -go-round moved Murray to McLaren and Barnard to Ferrari, whence he moved to Tyrrell, his four seasons culminating in Alesi's stunning early perfomances and some revolutionary aerodynamic work - including the now-ubiquitous high front wing. He designed the first Sauber F1 car in 1992 (for the 1993 season) before rejoining Ferrari as a specialist aerodynamicist. He subsequently rejoined Tyrrell in the same role. His lasting legacy to modern F1 was discovering Mike Gascoyne, who has worked for McLaren, Sauber, Tyrrell, Jordan, Renault and Toyota.
Overall, it's got to be Colin Chapman, probably the greatest owner-designer in F1 history.

As to the worst designer, I'm thinking Gustav Brunner, formerly of ATS, RAM, Arrows, (briefly Ferrari), Zakspeed, Leyton House, Minardi and Toyota. His cars have just one second place (Capelli, France 1990) to show for 22 years of work.

Answer 2

I feel really sorry for the designers of the Hondas and Toyotas. They don't seem to be going on well. Newey's cars are good but somehow have a tendency to break down. I'll give the award to whoever designed the Ferraris from 2001 to 2005 and the Renaults of 2005 and 2006

Answer 3

Present Day: Adrian Newey. Historic, Gordon Murray. Worst? Honda's.

Answer 4

I would say TOYOTA and HONDA are the worst Formula1 designers because they have much much more than Ferrari , but are on par with smaller teams like...RedBull?

History Lesson:: Honda was the first company approached for the engine in the McLaren F1. Honda declined because they saw no money or prestige in it.

BMW is now the company cemented in history as the powerplant in the fastest car in the world for the longest period of time unchallenged. And even today , the only ones faster are Koenigsegg and Veyron and a small handful of tuners.

Answer 5

Newey i suppose but some people think he's very overrarted as for the worst i'm not sure but the Honda is one of the worst

Answer 6

I think Newey is the best modern F1 designer. And I think whoever is designing the Hondas (not Super Aguri) and the Toyotas are the worst.

Answer 7

For modern cars it has to be Adrian Newey but for any other era I would say Derek Gardner for the six wheel Tyrell.......so good they banned it

As for worst car designers that's much harder, I would have to opt for worst paint job. This years Honda......what the hell where they thinking? It was a brave person that unveiled that to an eager Japanese contingent!

Answer 8

1. Because Jenson WANTS to have a beard, and 2. Facial hair would be covered by the flameproof balaclava and helmet being worn.

Answer 9

It has to Mcclaren and Ron dennis the gentleman in the sport.Lets face it the F! car was born just off the M1.We had Mansel he was quick bot broke cars with his rough deiving and such a baby.Then Schu came along breaking every rule in the book and a cheat.Now we have this clean cut Lewis a faultless driver and so smooth.By the way their are no bad cars in F1 it is the Drivers.

Answer 10

Ross Brawn