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Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey
The point was to lower the frontal area of the front tires and fit them behind a fairing to lower aero drag. Going to such small tires obviously reduces the amount of front contact patch, so the next step was to add 2 more front tires to get back to the same amount of front tire on the ground.
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Exactly... on an F1 car the vast majority of the drag comes from the tires... everything else is extremely well refined... but there's not much you can do to the tire... it's gotta be round, and it's gotta be spinning.
Those 3 axle cars had *tremendous* aero advantages over their 2 axle competition at similar grip levels. However, the added complexity resulted in mechanical failures and higher costs. And once newer high-tech radial tires started showing up, 2 axle cars were able to achieve tons of mechanical grip on super sticky tires at the expense of changing them frequently... something that takes way more time if you've got 6 tires.
But what really killed the 3 axle cars was the FIA. They plain old outlawed 'em, along with things like AWD, active differentials, active aero, etc. On one hand, it kinda sucks that F1 wouldn't embrace the new levels of creative technology that sprung up in the 70's, but on the other hand, they kept the sport pure... the cars today are essentially the same cars that were running back in the 50's and 60's... low displacement, open wheel, single seat, and faster than any other road-racing car on the planet.