The 2014 cars look a little odd

Greetings Internet,

Here we are on the eve of the first test of the season, well at least it was when this document was started - actual release may vary. In the run up to this important milestone on the path towards Australia in March a few teams have released their new designs for 2014, and from those releases everything looks a little odd... It was to be expected that the re-profiled nose sections would dominate the shape of the grid but it has lead to some very interesting remarks across the internet. However one of the most promising things about this significant redesign is that it forces those designers and engineers to come up with new solutions and new interpretations. This means that there is going to be a lot of variation on the grid this year, especially given what we've seen so far - which is always a good thing, back in 2008 if the cars had no livery it would be very difficult to tell which one belonged to which team. Now this problem has been resolved - replaced by another one... the cars look weird... Two seasons ago we had the onset of the stepped nose, some teams were more subtle with it than others, Sauber and Ferrari had a very angular step, Force India and Mercedes had a platypus nose while McLaren had neither. All those designs seemed odd at first, but we got used to them over time, and some like the Lotus interpretation started to look alright. However I sense that the same process of acceptance regarding the newest nose designs is going to be a lot longer...

So here are the car release pictures so far... from those teams who have decided to unveil their designs before the first test begins tomorrow... ish.

Force India

Force India were the first team to unveil a picture of their car, and looking at the sole image which had clearly been photoshopped to within an inch of its life, things looked good. The most striking difference is that they had refreshed their livery after it had remained static for so long, paired with one of the strongest driver pairings on the grid and definitely in the mid-field seemed promising. What the team had done was to take their image directly from the side which meant their interpretation of the nose-cone design remained hidden. It can be seen from the profile of the nose that there is something going on there, but the angle of the shot and the after-effects put on the car make it difficult to discern what. On the surface it looks a lot more aggressive, but so did last years Sauber when those first images came out and the actual car didn't quite have the same amount of presence. So we shall have to wait and see if Force India follows that pattern when the trackside photos come out of Jerez.

Williams

After Force India released a photoshop special, Williams went one betted and released a sponsor free CGI rendering of their car. This time Williams decided to show their new nose design... and it was at this point in time that the internet erupted. Because it looks mismatched, an anomalous protrusion from the front of the car which looks out of place, the sort of thing you'd go to the doctor about and ask for a biopsy. But this is what the technical regulations promoted - a low narrow nose attached to a wider and higher section of the chassis responsible for housing the suspension. However this image may work in the opposite manner to the Force India release, because the actual car with sponsors if Williams still have any and a complete livery might highlight contours that the rendering doesn't show. Therefore the - protrusion - may blend in to the rest of the body better and look more purposeful when it is on track.

McLaren

McLaren were the first team to do a proper reveal, complete with drivers and without too much image manipulation. Before we get to the shape of the nose which again is another interpretation, the other talking point is the lack of any distinct livery, since Vodafone and McLaren parted ways over the winter the team don't have a title sponsor - or any sponsors on the car. This suggests that despite signing up drivers before the end of the 2013 season, there are still many business deals to be done. As a result the livery is rather plain - and just uses several shades of grey, making it similar in many respects to the factory Mercedes team cars. But as this may well just be a work in progress design, what they show up in Australia with may differ significantly. Onto the nose then, and this nodule seems a lot more purposeful than the Williams version, and the wing supports are quite nice - even if they look a little like nostrils from the front. But there is the problem that the end of the nose doesn't quite seem to match with the lines of the main chassis, and the edges don't line up. It is a minor detail but an ever so slightly irritating one - but as some third-party designs online demonstrate - a clever livery can sculpt the nose to look much sharper and blend in with the rest of the car.

Lotus

More CGI again, and in the alternative world of Lotus' twitter use - they twitter-bombed McLaren (if that is indeed such a term). Because as McLaren were doing a big online video reveal - Lotus posted their rendering on twitter... very sneaky. The world then stared at this image for quite a while, questioning whether Lotus were having another laugh, or whether the rendering was pushed through to spoil McLaren's parade leaving some of the details a little rough. But when further images were released it became clear that Lotus were serious and had gone in a very different direction with the design. The car has two noses... one of which is longer than the other - which is going to irritate me and anyone with an OCD complex all season long. This has been done because you can only have one designated nose, and any other chassis bodywork must be at least 500mm back from this point. Therefore one prong is the nose, and the other has to be 500mm shorted - it's a very clever interpretation of the rules, one which may force a re-write for 2015 so the innovation should be applauded. And if those noses were allowed to be equal it would be the best looking design so far.

Ferrari

With arguably the most powerful driver pairing and a huge amount of resources, big things were expected from Ferrari - they have something to prove in 2014, that they can really challenge for the big prize at the end. So when this design filtered through the media we were all very surprised with what was in front of us all - like the Lotus it took some time to sink in because it is quite different. In some respects the sloped nose without the strange protrusion is a much smoother design but the slope angle seems very disjointed from the rest of the car. Almost as if it has melted or someone really fat fell on the wax wind-tunnel model before it was scanned into the computer - but the design is quite deliberate, and I can see this being one of those that we get used to faster than the others... Even if it looks strange to us all now. Because a static car can look different to one travelling at speed even if they are intrinsically the same thing, so I shall withhold all criticism until the images from Jerez come through.

Sauber

Sauber only released their design yesterday, and is the most recent of the car releases immediately before the start of testing tomorrow when the rest of the field will be unveiled. Like Force India some clever photography and image filters make the car look more aggressive than it really is, while concealing the complete nose profile which has been a sticking point among fans. From the angle available the nose does look to be one of the better interpretations of the rule - aesthetically speaking - performance is another matter. As with the majority of the other designs thus far, the rest of the car remains largely unchanged with the exception of the airbox shapes above the driver. Sauber have come into some criticism for their driver choices by the folk of the internet mainly because Gutierrez can be erratic at times and Sutil has become boring in recent seasons - but their least inspired decision so far is the livery. All the others so far have at least made some updates and improvements to the design but Sauber haven't - barring sponsors it is borderline identical to the 2013 car. There is a sense that the mid-field balance of power might have been passed back to Force India... or maybe even Williams.

Torro Rosso

This release literally occurred minutes ago and unlike some of the other designs, toro-rosso have gone with a much sharper shape to the main chassis leading up to the nosecone which descends smoother than the likes of Ferrari or Williams. It does seem to bear a much greater resemblance to the Sauber design where the overhanging sections of the nose at the sides form the supporting struts for the front wing. Which makes the whole thing look tidier than the front of the Williams without the flaring nostril look of the McLaren. It seems that of those running the single pointed nose Toro Rosso and Sauber have come up with the prettier solutions - even if their liveries remain largely unchanged by it all. Of course we don't really know what Force India have done or the others that are yet to unveil what they have done, but those fears of 2014 cars being hideous has been dispelled in several cases. The jury is still out on others...


Overall the new cars are very different, and the picture will be a lot clearer over the coming days when testing gets underway in Spain. Of course between initial release and the start of the season in Melbourne it is entirely possible the there will be some significant changes to the shape, style and overall approach to the front nose design. Teams will learn from each other in Jerez, they will learn from the telemetry data and relative pace whether their design is any good. Naturally that relative pace doesn't mean too much at this stage, but it helps teams shape and reshape the cars to extract more downforce and tyre life from the cars. It is a very important test, which may cause problems who like me, are not heading off to Spain because it is well out of both out budgets.