Montegrappa launch revolutionary F1® Speed pen, inspired by 2022 car design

Following the success of last year’s commemorative F1® Seventy, Italian luxury penmakers Montegrappa have shifted their attentions to the future of Formula 1 with the launch of their new F1® Speed, inspired by the recently-revealed, next-generation 2022 F1 car.

Carbon fibre provided the starting point for the project, with Montegrappa’s in-house design team placing the advanced composite at the centre of gravity, leveraging its low mass and high strength in the pen’s grip section to provide obvious dynamic benefits for the user.

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With that tactile link between writer and contemporary high-performance materials established, the designers then focused on developing a complete package that embraced not only F1’s state-of-the-art reputation, but also its defiance of conventional norms.

The result is that with its radical silhouette, the F1® Speed features at its core a revolutionary splayed barrel that offers the user significant enhancements in grip and control.

Engineered using a new multi-axial, computer-controlled milling capacity that can precisely model and machine complex forms within fixed ergonomic limits, its two-dimensional taper is inspired by the body shapes that will be seen on next year’s F1 cars under the new-for-2022 FIA regulations.

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Aerodynamic cues can also be found in the F1® Speed’s graduated ‘Monza’ step: another numerically-controlled component, custom designed to provide a smooth transition between the pen’s barrel and grip sections.

Simulated air intakes cut into its sides are designed to create a heightened sense of velocity, while underlining the function of the barrel as a housing for the pen’s own internal engine. Milled from high-grade brass, the step is PVD coated with resilient, black ruthenium.

Other components created using the same process include a pocket-clip inspired by the next-generation Formula 1 car’s nose cone designs, and a finial modelled on slick racing tyres and fitted to a miniature, sterling silver hub.

Additional cosmetic touches include high-gloss body lacquering, high-visibility enamel and resin accents, and a scorched, stainless-steel exhaust that doubles as a barrel end.

The notion of speed has even inspired the pen’s limited production run of 372 pieces per mode/colour reference, with 372 a nod to the highest velocity ever recorded in a world championship F1 race – 372.6 km/h (231.5 mph) by McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2005 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

To find out more about the F1® Speed, visit Montegrappa.com