Marko: the Red Bull « isn’t as ugly as the Ferrari »
The consultant from Red Bull Racing assures that the latest car from Milton Keynes will be less ugly than the Ferrari, even though this RB8 will not resemble McLaren's MP4-27 either.
As the presentations progress, most Formula One enthusiasts shiver at the sight of the solutions adopted by the different teams to comply with the 2012 regulations, which impose a maximum nose height of 550mm on the cars instead of the previously allowed 625mm. Except for McLaren and its MP4-27, all the cars presented so far, including the Lotus F1 Team’s E20, feature a step at the junction between the nose and the survival cell of their vehicles.
While Sauber has already indicated that its future C31 will adopt the same solution, confirming an already strong trend, many are waiting to see the solution proposed by Adrian Newey who, for three years now, has established Red Bull as the new technical—and aesthetic—reference in Formula One: “We have something that is much nicer,” confides Helmut Marko, consultant for the Austrian team and the right-hand man of its owner, Dietrich Mateschitz. “Our car is not as ugly as the Ferrari, but it won’t look like the McLaren either, which does not have an anomaly on the nose. Our solution is just a little smaller and more elegant,” explains the Austrian.
For their part, the men from Maranello defended this unsightly solution: “It’s a solution that isn’t beautiful, but it’s very effective from an aerodynamic point of view,” assures Nikolas Tombazis, designer of the F2012. Stefano Domenicali, on the other hand, reminds us that Formula One is above all a performance contest, not a beauty contest: “In fact, it’s not really pretty from my point of view, but that’s not what counts in Formula One. These choices are the combination of the constraints of technical regulations and the desire to maximize the car’s performance. Whether it’s ugly or very pretty doesn’t matter at all; the most important thing is for the car to be the most performant.”
A sentiment that seems to be shared by the many teams that have adopted this solution, and one that is shared by Norberg Haug, President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: « The most beautiful car will be the one in front! »
