...'cause it sure is ugly.

2012 Ferrari Unveiled

Seems that nose look is catching...

2012 Force India

Now I *really* want McLaren to do well.

Looks like a lego car. Hideous.

It's gonna be an ugly season... but yeah, McLaren solved the problem nicely.

...

it better be fast

now to see what rbr are going to unveil

I'd have to add that it looks like those teams will need to be careful, as that nose could catch on things. Perhaps they need the number of McLaren's rhinoplasty expert. Unfortunate things like that can be corrected, you know...

Looking at the Force India and the Caterham, they at least have some sloped area in-between the highest outer points, where the suspension's mounted, giving it a bit smoother front-on appearance. The Ferrari's more of a total step up/down, which seems like it would have more of an aero cost in high-end straight line speed...maybe that blunt area helps plant the front end more, but you wouldn't think it would have that much impact on front downforce at lower speeds.

I'm curious to see what the other teams come up with...Mercedes already had a sloped nose, more like the McLaren but higher on the outer areas like the FI and Caterham...and you know Newey's gonna maximize the aero flow in the RB's.

We'll see what they do on the track come Tuesday.

I was actually thinking about the rule change last night... I mean, if the aim was to prevent the tip of the nose going over the cockpit sides of another car, why couldn't they simple have mandated strong vertical front spoiler mountings UNDER the nose that would stop the impact?

You mean the ones that hold the front wing to the nose?

If you look at say Liuzzi's crash at Monza this past year...where he got into the grass and ran into Nico and Petrov while they were in the first chicane and their sides exposed to his front end...with a possible wreck like that, it wouldn't matter how strong those mounts are since the height of the nose was what the FIA was concerned about.

A strong mount isn't going to stop a car moving 200KPH+ in putting it's nose over something's that lower than it is. And if you made it from some super-strong material, then it would only rip the sidepod apart of the car it hits, not stop the car's nose from potentially spearing a driver.

The FIA had to mandate the nose heights in the interest in safety....the designers didn't have to make the cars ugly to comply with them, though.

Platypus 4 - Normal 1....

2012 Lotus E20 Revealed

Rumor has it the Sauber has a similar nose to the trend we've seen this week.

That I don't quite get. If the Sidepod is so fragile, then the platypus nose would also go trough it? I agree however there might not be an easy "super strong material" to fortify the nose spoiler with.

No rumor anymore, Steve...

Link in German, but the image is sufficient. Seems to be a fashion now.

A butt-ugly Sauber 2012

I need a GT1 and GT3 TV channel... F1 this year will be too hard on the eyes.

As it's constructed now, the nose and sidepods are part of the crumple zones around the cockpit cell to protect the driver. If you strengthen one, you're weakening the other in the instant of a car on car crash in some regards if they contact one another.

F1's all about aero....designers have found that getting more air under the car helps in the pursuit of downforce, that's why noses had risen over the past few years. They had gotten to the point that a front on side impact had the capacity to strike a driver instead of the areas designed to protect the drivers. The FIA had to do something.

And, another one...not as ugly as some of the others but still with the step. Maybe that step's so those short F1 drivers can get up into the car?

RB8 Sketch

Interesting that their step-nose actually has a scoop/intake at the step. I don't think I've seen that on the other step-nose cars (Lotus, Sauber and Force India now added to the mix of platypus cars).

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1072611_sauber-f1-team-unleashes-interim-bodied-c31-race-car

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1072593_lotus-f1-team-has-new-sponsors-unveils-e20-race-car

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/16870313

Chunx, I don't know if that's an air intake or just the shadowing on the drawing....once the real thing's rolled out (tomorrow at Jerez I think), then we'll know for sure.

The Toro Rosso...

2012 STR7

So far, McLaren's the only one that hasn't had some sort of flat nose.

Here's a higher res look at that art concept for the RB8:
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/red-bull-RB8-launch.html

Still looking like an intake to me, with the pitot probe acting as a splitter. Interesting. Looking forward to the roll out.

Well, so McLaren has a very likeable driver with potential for the WDC (Button) and the prettiest car this year. I guess I'll watch the races to see the Platypus' get spanked...it might actually be enjoyable that way.

In that drawing, Chunx...it definetly looks like some sort of intake. Newey's known to do different things, for sure, and after the loss of blown diffusers that's carried RBR for the past 2 years, they've got to do something.

Edit - Not sure what it is, but there's a decent look at the 1:05 mark...looks "scoopish" or just a blunt area, can't really tell.

The RB8 Revealed

Scoop. About 95% sure now. But, where does the air go after it goes inside the scoop? That's the question.

Yeah, I'm with you on that after seeing that video. If it's not a scoop, it's going to be one hell of an aero block.

There's a couple of people at Pitpass, a F1 site I frequent, that are wondering the same thing...where's the air going? Under the car or into the cockpit or through to the back? Newey built the RB7 based on the premise of getting more air "(blown exhaust) underneath the car, so maybe this is a replacement for that lost air.

I'm sure it's going to be broken down in depth, starting tomorrow, when better and clearer pictures are available.

Pretty good article..and highlight...on the RB8 nose duct:

Red Bull, the RB8 and the Nose Duct

Probably not. You see, once the car slows for a corner, that air flow would taper off. The blown exhaust allowed for high speed/high volume air to go into the diffuser despite the car having slowed down (which is why the throttle stayed high even with the driver off the throttle). This is similar to the boundry layer control device or "blown flaps" of some second generation jet fighters in the early 1960s, which used bleed air from the engines to blow over the flaps for more lift at landing speeds.

Perhaps it is some kind of weird take on the "f" duct or whatever they called that device from the 2010 season. Perhaps it adds to airflow at higher speeds, or leads to another radiator, etc. Certainly will be interesting to see what it's for!

I thought maybe it was to cool their KERS, since they had so many problems with it last year...but Newey didn't care for KERS in the first place, so I doubt he designed anything to help it.

The bump still looks stupid on the RB8, but since it's a scoop now it looks a bit less stupid to me. At least it shows a function.

Platypus strike again...

2012 Williams

Mini wings on the front and some sort of vent at the end of the nose...maybe a Mercedes/Ferrari style front wing diffuser?


Edit - Adrian Newey, on the RB8 scoop..."The slot in the nose is simply driver cooling. Traditionally the driver cooling slot is at the front of the nose, but really for styling as much as anything we moved it to where you now see it to break up the aesthetics of the ramp."

The wings on the front of the nose are probably for video camera installation. Sometimes you see them at the top of the cooling duct as well.

Is it me or is the front wing on that Williams held on by a really small cross-sectional area of CFRP?

Apparently, we're not the only ones with "inquiring minds" about the RB8 scoop:

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-doubts-linger-about-red-bull-cooling-inlet

Looking at Newey's track record, that scoop probably does more than cool the driver. I imagine Charlie Whiting will end up taking a look at it as soon as one of the other team's makes an inquiry.

If that scoop makes the car .1 sec/lap faster than the competition, that alone would cool the driver - by making him sweat the competition a little bit less...

i would wanna send one of them small cameras down it to see where it goes!

LOL, so maybe his was a methaphorical answer...