What a 2020 McLaren F1 Car Could Look Like With No FIA Restrictions

• Restrictions and rules are the bane of ultimate performance.

• If it was possible to guarantee driver safety, F1 cars would be impossibly jet-fighter-like fast.

• This rendering of a McLaren F1 car is the most attractive open-wheel racecar we’ve ever seen.

If you’re an F1 fan, and are a little older, you might remember F1 cars like the Brabham BT46B “fancar” and the insane six-wheeled Tyrrell P34. These and other entries were so advanced and fast that F1 rules had to be amended to limit such developments. But what if there were no restrictions and rules? In 2020, an F1 racecar could look like this McLaren.

A digital designer named Nick Markham has envisioned what could very well be the sexiest F1 racecar we’ve ever seen. Some modern F1 cars can look awkward from certain angles due to occasionally over-the-top aero bits but this rendered McLaren is stunning.

The goal of this design was to imagine the possibilities if F1 cars were allowed to use technologies such as fan-assisted downforce and a drag reduction systems (or DRS). With its near 1,000 horsepower turbocharged 3.5-litre V8, this closed-cockpit McLaren could probably break the sound barrier, pull enough Gs to render the driver unconscious, and look incredibly good in the process.