Very interesting technical description in this interview.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/16864721

Ugly warning... Red Bull have given us a sneak at their 2012 car - though it looks more like an artists' impression to me...



...and it looks suspiciously like there's an air intake in that awful stepped nose. Surely, that can't be allowed in the regulations. Or can it?

Yeah, if that is an intake it looks a bit suspect - but then Newey is a genius.

Thing is, only McLaren don't have that stepped nose, so far.

I can't help wonder if they've either missed a trick and played a blinder.

Could be a double bluff yet, that's not a photograph is it?!! Wouldn't be the first time a team has tried to steer the competition down a dead end route. Guess we'll find out when testing begins.

Well, I don't know if it's an air "intake" as such (i.e. taking air into the engine) but there is almost definitely a hole between the top and bottom of the stepped nose.

Check the video here...

http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_ ... 3158945543

It only shows very quick flashes of various parts of the car but I think I see and intake with a fin to stabilise the incoming air.

Confirmed here...

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/ ... 12986.html

But no details about what it is used for. (Of course) no doubt there will be plenty of finger-pointing and name calling between the other teams and Red Bull at the start of the season during which time all the other teams will be developing their own version of the vent to add to their cars. I see a replay of the F-duct and double diffuser debacle.

I don't think it's a hole. It looks more like a bulge to my eyes.
Some clever aero thing.

It's looks like all the other cars

Apparently the McLaren has been running a lower chassis the last couple of years which means they don't need the stepped nose. They also have something different for the airflow under the car. I saw a pic somewhere of an air scoop or something like that at the bottom behind the front wing.

I hope today's test times aren't a sign of things to come.

Why not?

Button was two seconds off the pace.

I know it's testing, trying different set-ups, fuel loads, aero parts etc.. I'm not trying to read a lot into it.

I've got a feeling Mclaren have a few secrets up their sleeves. Their launch car had a plastic dummy exhaust system fitted?

Reference Buttons pace today. I read a report his floor pan kept overheating? Faster than Massa though but that's not hard......

^


You'd think they'd offer a monthly payment plan!