Red Bull’s rubbery wings
Throughout Red Bull’s dominant years, competitors constantly were laying complaints against the team for pushing the limits and regulations a little bit too far. The area of most concern to other teams was the flexibility of their front wing – which Adrian Newey and the rest of the Red Bull boys seemed to have a lot of fun developing.
A more flexible front wing yields many benefits – especially higher top speeds due to reduced drag. In the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Vettel’s Red Bull’s nose was observed to flex and bend as if it was made of rubber whilst it was being replaced:
Eventually, the team would be caught bending the rules officially two years later at the same Grand Prix – where both of the Bulls were forced to start from the pitlane after their front wing was deemed illegal after inspection.
BMW-Sauber’s “Twin Towers”
At the 2006 French Grand Prix, BMW-Sauber sought to catch up to the mighty Renaults and Ferraris through some rather creative aero developments – specifically, the “twin towers” located in front of the driver:
How on earth do those work, you ask? Basically, they would work to clean up the flow of air running over the car, which in turn would improve the performance of the rear wing, providing more downforce and therefore a faster lap time around the Magny-Cours circuit. The FIA ruled that they would obscure the driver’s vision, and they were banned and removed before the race took place.
Arrows’ Nose Wing
Arrows never really managed to set F1 alight, but they most certainly turned a few heads at the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix, where they infamously fitted a “top wing” to the nose of the car.
As Monaco does not require high top speeds, the crudely-designed wing would have benefitted the struggling team’s car around the tight circuit, but ultimately the FIA forced both Arrows and Jordan (who were running a similar but more subtle top wing) to remove the wings from their cars for the race.
The X-Wing
Coming into 1998, F1’s regulations had a major overhaul in order to reduce downforce and grip levels. Coming into the San Marino Grand Prix, teams were keen to try anything in order to keep up with the mighty McLarens that year – which meant a few teams pitched up with “X-wings”, a ridiculous-looking pair of wings which were installed on either side of the driver:
Nobody could keep up with the McLarens that weekend anyway, and the wings were banned by the FIA soon after.