The Ugliest of Them All

If you have read or even sniffed at my blog over the past couple of weeks, you will know that I detest the look of the new F1 cars. But then there comes the question, “Which one is the ugliest little duckling that will never, ever grow up to be a beautiful swan?” The answer is Renault. Oh my god is that a face only a mother could love…if she was blind and had no hands to feel the face of her child. I think I mentioned that it looks like a duck, but now I think it looks like a duck that was possibly born prematurely and got stepped on. Of course, if it were blisteringly fast, maybe one could forgive it, but the thing is supposed to be a dog. I don’t know where Renault lost their way, but after losing the baby blue and yellow scheme for this one, they have really only made their car distinguishable by the fact that once you see it, you no longer want to live. Oops, I just gouged my eyes out after looking at it for too long. Oh well, at least it will hopefully still sound good…one has to hope for the best.

For more pictures of this abomination, be sure to go to http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/photos/2009/index_team-renault_01.shtml. Or don’t and save yourself the horror that is the Renault.

So Many New Faces

The debuts of both the BMW Sauber team and the Renault team occurred this week. Both of the cars look just like all the others, which is to say, pretty ugly. So far, five teams have revealed their cars, and all of them are fairly different. I have singled out the noses of these cars in particular to highlight just how different the designs actually are. You can see by the noses of these cars how widely the rules are, but also how many of the teams actually look somewhat similar. Contrasting are the new front ends of the McLaren and the Williams team who, respectively, have much skinnier front ends or much lower ones. The Ferrari team has also made their front end different by placing the front wing slightly back of the nose, while most other teams have put the front wing on the very front of the car’s nose. Meanwhile, the Renault just looks like a duck. Quack. Williams, by the way, hasn’t actually unveiled their car yet, but it is testing. Take a look and judge for yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, here is a nice shot showing the differences in this year’s versus last year’s BMW Sauber machine. The difference is astounding when you actually put the two side by side. The old car just seems to give off a presence of speed that the other is decidedly lacking. The old car looks like it has a purpose, whereas the new car looks…well, it looks like how I would design a Formula One car – and that can’t be a good thing. Also, now that I can really look at the two next to each other, this year’s car looks very out of proportion because of the huge front wing and tiny rear wing. It almost reminds me of a vacuum cleaner. Just push on the rear wing and the front end will suck up all the dirt. Personally, I will take the one on the right every time.

 

McLaren Unveil New Car

McLaren has also released their new car to the press, and it looks….not too bad. However, I attribute this to the fact that there have not been any clear shots of the vehicle head-on featuring the wing. Maybe they figured out that these cars are exceedingly ugly, and that the best thing is to not take a picture of it from the front when the wing is in view. This shot here is the best indication of the car with the wing at the back, but because of the perspective, it doesn’t look that bad.

 

I contend that when it gets out on track, it will still look horrible. Though maybe some colors suit this shape better, and the Ferrari red and the Toyota white just aren’t it. I don’t know. This shot of the front of the car just shows how much different the whole nose of the car is.

 

It is much rounder in its appearance and much skinnier. Even next to the Toyota, you will see how much different this car is.

 

This McLaren challenger is MP4-24 and is going to be one tough car to beat. In other McLaren news, Ron Dennis is going to be stepping down as the team principal. Martin Whitmarsh is going to be taking his place in March. Essentially, nothing much will change. Dennis will probably still be attached to the program and still go to races, much like Michael Schumacher or Jean Todt for Ferrari. He got his wish to see his driver Lewis Hamilton win the World Championship and now he can go and do whatever it is that people with boatloads of cash do for the rest of their lives. Next week will feature more car premiers from the other manufacturers.