Somewhere, there is a chief Ferrari designer who apparently has been hearkening back to his childhood:

 

Not since Todt and Brawn left....in my opinion. Those guys were always a step ahead when they were running Ferrari.

 

^ So true. Talk about a dream team. Todt, Brawn, Byrne and of course, Schumi. Personally, I cannot stand Domenicali. I think that if this Ferrari fails, he will be gone.

 

Yeah you can just tell that they're desperate to win, the design is just so unimaginative, I can't see it being a fast car, but then again they could surprise us and we all know how good Alonso is at developing cars. I do have to say that I do like their side pod design near the exhausts, not exactly sure where the exhausts are pointing though because I haven't seen a clear shot yet. I'd assume it would be at the rear wing like the McLaren.

Really looking forward to seeing what Red Bull has come up with...

 

I'm surprised that they've kept him around this long. It's obvious that he doesn't have an answer for the RBR, or even McLaren more often than not, and that's just not going to cut it at Ferrari.

 

I'd be surprised if Newey worked out a solution that incorporated the step nose, but I suppose we'll see.

 

James Key,technical director is leaving Sauber (http://www.pitpass.com/45537-Key-leaves-Sauber ) to another team (undisclosed)...while the aero "team" will take up his responsibilities, there needs to be a top dog to make final decisions...ruling by committees does not work no what Peter Sauber says...they will get a replacement but Key was good...he will be hard to replace and the timing on this sucks since he was aware of Saubers redesign from the bottom up.

Later, Ken

 

Yeah, I'm sure whichever other backmarker team that picks him up is really going to use that knowledge to their advantage.....since Sauber was really going to be competitive this year right?!

 

We shall see what they come up with this year...Key pulled them out of the hole after the Bimmer team got cold feet...They have the $$ so we wait to C if snow plow II is on the way?

Later, Ken

 

Heres the new Lotus, pretty cool video they made for the launch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=KjgSaYQ_GeY#

EDIT: Not sure why it didn't embed...

 

^ wow, did i just see Kimi smile/laugh. that must be a body double. lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjgSaYQ_GeY

 

Now 4:1 stepped vs smooth...if this keeps going, then McLaren may B "the odd man out" when it comes to the infamous nose design.

Later, Ken

 

^^^^Wow, even the Lotus/Renault design looks way better than the Ferrari. Domenicali may not even make it to the end of the season if looks are any indication of performance.

 

The drop on the Lotus' nose is barely perceptible. Nothing like the Caterham. Ken, it sounds like to me that you have a vested interest in the stepped nose. You mocked me by saying that I must think that I know more aerodynamically than the Caterham engineers, to which I responded that McLaren engineers know more about aerodynamic things than Caterham's engineers. Regardless of 4:1 or 10:1, over 90% of people on virtually every F1 site say that the stepped nose is just plain ugly. Somehow I cannot see Red Bull or Mercedes coming out with a dramatic stepped nose. I may be wrong, but I see them more in line with McLaren. And, of those 4 that you pointed out, only Ferrari has any real chance of being competitive. We'll see.

 

Ok, RB's car will have a stepped nose but Helmut says,"Our car is not as ugly as the Ferrari, but it's also not like the McLaren, which doesn't have a kink in the nose at all...Ours is just a bit smaller and more elegant"

And Haug says, "The most beautiful car will be the one at the front." suggesting Merc will also not have a "hump" a la Inspector Clouseau...therefore, as of Monday, 5:2 stepped to smooth le nez.

Later, Ken