Skip advert
Advertisement
Features

F1 cars vs road cars - why this season's Formula One setup definitely isn't too slow

F1 cars might not need 1000bhp

The subject of underpowered F1 cars has been trending in motorsport news of late. Team directors are reportedly pushing for a move to over 1000bhp.

With their turbocharged V6 power units producing around 750bhp, are current F1 cars just too easy to drive? Niki Lauda certainly thinks so, claiming that 18-year old rookie Max Verstappen shouldn't be able to lap so closely to the sport's most experienced drivers. 

Advertisement - Article continues below

>Read – F1 cars could produce over 1000bhp

Despite sending significantly less power to their wheels than say, McLaren’s 903bhp P1, F1 cars are featherweights, enabling them to produce as much as 1300bhp per ton. Can we really call that underpowered?

To put our point into perspective, we’ve listed just seven of a long list of very fast road cars that fall substantially short of the mark set by F1.

Caparo T1 – 899bhp/ton

We labelled the T1 ‘as close as you can get to an F1 car for the road,’ yet still it falls short of the target power-to-weight by over 400bhp.

Gut wrenching acceleration and aero-influenced agility gave contributing editor David Vivian a good idea of what F1 power could be like, if the F1 car were driving around at about six tenths that is.

Skip advert
Advertisement
Advertisement - Article continues below

>Read - Caparo T1

Radical SR8LM – 687bhp/ton

Radical’s V8 engined SR8LM is a proper racing car. It wears slick tyres and big wings, so it should give anyone behind the wheel a glimpse of the performance available from proper racing machinery.

Even so, its 2.8-litre Powertec engine can’t muster enough grunt to shove the racer around the track in anything near to F1 pace. Still, it was at least quick enough for us to end with ‘wow, it’s rapid’ in our 2009 Track car of the year test.

Ariel Atom V8 – 1100bhp/ton

Ariel’s Atom is famous for its outright pace, but it's the V8 that ranks top in Ariel's fearsome line up.

Advertisement - Article continues below

0-60mph takes just 2.3sec, ensuring the road legal V8 could just about cling onto fast charging F1 cars off the grid.

>Read - Ariel Atom V8 v Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera

But, you guessed it, that’s still not enough. Despite producing 1100bhp per ton, it’s 200bhp short of our target. The latest breed of F1 cars would leave the Atom for dead once their rear Pirelli slicks were able to bite into the asphalt.

Caterham Levante 1057bhp/ton

What about Caterham’s Levante? The Sussex carmaker fields cars in F1 itself, and this, its supercharged V8 Levante, produces no less than 550bhp.

Skip advert
Advertisement
Advertisement - Article continues below

Henry Catchpole labelled the car as ‘bonkers fast,’ with over 1000bhp per ton ensuring it felt so quick, that ‘even using half throttle you catch things up so quickly that you spend your entire time looking up exhaust pipes.’

Still 300bhp short, though.

>Watch - Caterham Levante v Caparo T1

Hennessey Venom GT – 1016bhp/ton

This world record holding car (its 270mph top speed was the fastest for a production car until the Koenigsegg One:1 landed) is frighteningly capable of reaching ridiculous speeds without even breaking a sweat.

Its top speed is some way above that of a Formula 1 car - most top out at less than 220mph on even the longest of straights, although this is heavily dictated by setup.

Even so, the Venom GT is still almost 300bhp short of F1 power-to-weight numbers.

>Read - Hennessey Venom GT review

Lamborghini Veneno – 497bhp/ton

You could fit over four F1 engines inside the space taken up by the Lamborghini Veneno’s 6.5-litre V12. Its monstrous exterior is matched by savage performance, with 740bhp enabling a 0-60mph time of just 2.9sec.

But that 497bhp per ton power-to-weight ratio leaves it trailing by quite some margin on this list of mighty machines.

>Watch - Lamborghini Veneno video on track

McLaren F1 - 560bhp/ton

And just to really push the point home, the legendary McLaren F1, a car that is still regarded today as a ridiculously rapid machine, produces a mere 560bhp per ton. That's 740bhp less than Formula 1.

>Watch - McLaren F1 and Ferrari F40 vs analogue supercars video

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

The new Mercedes-AMG G63 has arrived, and it still has a V8
Mercedes-AMG G63
News

The new Mercedes-AMG G63 has arrived, and it still has a V8

Some of Affalterbach’s range-toppers are swapping eight cylinders for four, but the AMG G-class retains its V8 for 2024
26 Mar 2024
The new Toyota GR Yaris costs £44,250 – too much for a hot supermini?
Toyota GR Yaris Gen 2 – front
News

The new Toyota GR Yaris costs £44,250 – too much for a hot supermini?

Our early impressions of the Gen 2 GR Yaris suggest that it’s an improvement in every area that counts, but can it be worth £18k more than an i20 N?
27 Mar 2024
Land Rover Defender OCTA: twin-turbo V8 and McLaren-style suspension tech for hot off-roader
Land Rover Defender OCTA – front
News

Land Rover Defender OCTA: twin-turbo V8 and McLaren-style suspension tech for hot off-roader

The OCTA promises to be the fastest, toughest and most capable Defender yet when it launches later this year
26 Mar 2024