I think we have to understand the "the casual fan doesn't care about the looks" argument is a fallacy that just doesn't hold up.
I run the Birmingham outlet of the F1InPubs national gathering (all F1 races live in a pub, in a location near YOU
) and for the last 2 years after the Monaco GP we convinced the pub to also show the Indy 500 for those that wanted to stick around.
The first thing someone said last year when the intro started was "is THAT was the cars look like?" while pulling a face.
This included casual F1-only fans right up to dedicated fans who have attended races at all levels of the sport (including the Rockinham Champcar rounds...)
After someone crashed in the early goings the jokes were about how the impact with the wall might improve their looks.
And this was during 2012 when F1 was running the ugly stepped noses (and a lot of people commented how ugly those were too, but still with that design they looked ten times better)
It took me back to when I first saw Champcar nearly 15 years ago now, how I was captivated by the cars that looked like a meaner, better looking F1 car and how that grabbed my attention first before the great racing kept me watching.
Make the cars look better and you might at least have a potential new fan stick around to gaze at them for a few laps, and hopefully the good racing they're putting on at the moment will keep them and turn them into future hardcore
