OK, enough of the red detail shots. This is one of the few wide shots I took at the Formula Expo last weekend and shows the Red Bull Racing/Renault F1 car that greeted attendees on arrival.
F1 cars are designed and built by their respective teams based on strict parameters published by FIA. Rules change on a yearly basis to account for technological changes (for example, having more than 4 wheels on the car was outlawed in the mid 1980s) or to make races more competitive.
Current cars can be no more than 180cm wide and 95cm tall although length us unrestricted. The engines this season must be normally aspirated V8s (no turbos) with displacement no more than 2.4l and engine weight no less than 95kg.
That may sound like a pretty modest engine for those of us driving 3 litre, turbocharged cars but these things are designed from the ground up for speed and red-line at somewhere around 18,000rpm (versus about 7,000rpm for a “normal” car engine).