F1 cars are 3.0L. none of them are even remotely as small as 1.8L and haven't been since 1989

and in the 80s they were 3.0L if N/A and 1.5L if turbo (most were turbo), but these engines "only" spun about 13k-15k rpm (compared to the 19k of today's F1 engines).

but still, F1 cars only weigh 1320 lbs with driver and fuel. they don't NEED to be torque monsters.



my viewpoint on torque vs hp is this:

just enough torque to move the car is enough torque. more torque and the car gets exponentially more difficult to drive fast/smoothly.


also, the shape of the torque/hp curves is VERY dependent on what you are doing with the car, ie towing/street car/drag racing/road racing/autocross/etc.