But since then a succession of teams have launched their cars and all of them
without exception have gone for a stepped nose.
Although the general look has been roundly condemned — ‘Platypus-like’ has
been the most popular description while the correspondent for La Gazzetta
dello Sport described the F2012 as “the ugliest Ferrari ever” — it may be
that a stepped nose is the best solution to the new rules.
That seemed more than likely on Monday when Red Bull, who have produced the
fastest car for each of the past three years, launched the RB8, which also
featured a stepped nose.
It begs the question: have McLaren got it wrong? Were they ‘sandbagging’ —
faking — at last week’s launch? Might they still incorporate the design
before the first race of the season in Australia on March 18? Have they got
it right and everyone else got it wrong?
Or will it make no difference at all? After all, McLaren said last week that
they did not need the ‘step’ since their 2011 car already had a lower
chassis design comparable to others.
These questions and more were being discussed in feverish tones on fans’
forums on Monday. As was the presence of a mysterious hole in the nose of
the RB8 where the step is, which appears to be some sort of air duct.
It is unlikely that testing will resolve many, or any of these issues.
Teams run different fuel loads and programmes, making like-for-like
comparisons very difficult before qualifying in Melbourne.
Button will be in the car on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Hamilton taking over
for the final two days of this, the first of three winter tests. Meanwhile,
it has been confirmed that David Richards’ Banbury-based Prodrive group has
lost its status as the Mini’s factory World Rally team. Prodrive will
continue to build and support Mini John Cooper Works WRC customer cars.