planetf1.com

Really disappointed that they have kept those disgusting front wings again for this year. I thought that was finished for this season? Also, the red doesn't suit the car at all. Random red panels in random areas look bad. Lotus was never a good looking car but I thought they would be much better with new noses. Sad day

I don't understand how any F1 fan can find an F1 car ugly or fugly or whatever. The livery could've been better but it's still a gorgeous piece of machinery.

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Rosberg - Bottas

+1

Well seeing as how Allison clearly said they will only add it if they can find a way to gain downforce with it, I'd say chances are pretty high they'll have the stepped nose in Australia.

Aestheticaly, they have lost their way when it comes to the historic and famous black and gold. But it's nice to see so many large sponsorship names on the car, the size of the logo is directly proportional to the money involved. I was concerned the team was running out of money.



Exactly, the entire front end, the nose and wing are from last year's car. No doubt it's just there because the team does not want to reveal the true front end of the car until later. What jumps out at me on initial impression is the exhaust system, they are using what Red Bull developed, not the Coanda type system. I expect that most will use the Red Bull method, it offers good control of the exhaust gas path since it is attached to the bodywork, unlike the Coanda system that could have the exhaust path wander away from the diffuser and instead snaking towards the rear tires.

Secondly, the double intakes beside the primary engine air intake are there, indicating that Lotus are confident they can make their double diffuser system work.. finally.

The fugly step nose is still there, having the modesty panel adds weight. Expect most teams to retain that horrible eyesore. And the pelican nose is still there. We are only viewing part of the whole picture, and once Renault reveal the rest in testing we have no idea what the total aero package will be. They still need to attach the new front wing and whatever turning vanes are planned.

What I see is a major improvement over the 2012 car, it should yield a performance increase over last year.

Is it just me or does the livery remind anyone of the Walter Wolff cars like the one scheckter drove with the red on it? More than say JSP era lotus, i kinda prefer the old lotus racing green of old to the JPS livery, just a very British feel to it, but as this isn't really British as such they go with the livery everyone can associate with.

I actually really like the new livery, am I alone in that? Looking forward to seeing Grosjean winning in it, it's a nice looking car, except for the lack of vanity panel...

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"You are the universe expressing itself as a Human for a little while..."

now i am gonna grab me some of them delicious lotus E21 bars to eat

+40256358

people last year was calling the F2012 the ugliest car ever, but how can a new F1 car with new technology on it be ugly

By looking it : D...
I personally liked the 2007 cars..fat wings..fat everything, Just like the americans ^_^
Lotus theme is nice though gold and black. Agree on the red clashing with the theme though.

The back end looks so tight it feels the car could go fast (well, the back end is much like from a Red Bull, so no surprise).
The front end mainly has the stepped nose - when looking at the car from above at a certain angle, when not seeing the stepped nose, it actually looks like a beautiful car. The stepped nose is off-putting, but it's a small detail compared to everything else.

i wanted to say it yesterday but my iPad thought running out of power would be a nice idea... so today:

the stepped noses did look akward at the start of the season but i got quite used to it ... there were and therefore will be more aesthetical solutions and some maybe not so nice looking ones, but when comparing the RB8 to the RB7 and even worse the RB6, the stepped noses do look quite nice... i also like the wider but lower front-wings, especially compared to the downwards curved ones with the high endplates... back to the nose: after getting used to the stepped nose of the RB8, the RB7 does look somewhat like an elephant to me...

in short: i like (most of) the stepped noses and i will probably like the 2014 cars - i didn't really like the nose-horn double wing constructions of McLaren and Honda but that's a different story =D

No DDRS
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/6 ... sfront.jpg

With DDRS?
http://www.autoweek.com/storyimage/CW/2 ... launch.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tg5Lu7DUFVk/U ... aper-1.jpg

i think allison stated that, while it wasn't on the launch car, they will be pursuing the technology

I quite like the Merc and Lotus stepped-noses. It's ones like the Ferrari, Red Bull, Sauber that I don't like. I personally do think a stepped-nose looks pretty badass if the stepped bit is small enough, smaller than the main nose, more tapered.

Not a huge fan of the livery, the red just looks awkward the black/mustard IMO. Surprised the stepped nose is still there, but there you go.

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My favorite of the stepped noses is the Ferrari's, but I think that's only because of the car number (font) on it!

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Rosberg - Bottas

i thought the Merc was awful, i do quite like this lotus version

It was awful! But I did like how it looked.

I don't really like the livery on the E21. They have lost the trademark black and gold which I thought was the best. The red highlights doesn't really suit it. I hope it's a competitive car.

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Pressure: You're either giving it, or taking it.

Is this a photoshop job:

http://www.yallaf1.com/2013/01/29/lotus ... nched-e21/

Nope they probably just put stickers over the actual button labels for the launch. Same as the silly #ImSexyAndIKnowIt on the side of the car.

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Hmm, I loved the livery on E20, this one just does not look so good and this "red" or whatever colour kind of destroys the effect . I also had some confusion about this text on the air intake above driver head. I thought it says "HIMI" instead of "KIMI" . But if it will go fast than who cares .

for the steering wheel .

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No pain, no gain!

I don't know what everyones problem is with the red. This looks to me to be a very nice hybrid of the JPS and the Gold Leaf liveries... I dig.

I just hope it's fast enough to help deliver another WDC for the Kimster

From Yalla : P:

Many of the commands on the wheel remain a mystery but our in-office technical guru was able to decipher many of the steering button commands which we have listed below:

Mute – to silence irritating race engineers from telling those who know what they are doing, how to do things.
Ice-cream – which prompts the Lotus team’s catering boss to rush off to the media centre with lollies to have the hacks write good things about the driver who presses the button.
Sat Nav – important new addition for a driver who may have forgotten his way around a circuit.
Smile – to keep everyone happy.
Tweet – in keeping with the trend to keep fans informed at all times of exactly what is going on in the cockpit.
Cold Knob – to control the temperature in the cockpit.
Open Gate – for drivers who go off track and find closed gates in their way.
Translate (Anti- Mumble) – useful for drivers who mumble over the radio as function also provides instant sub titles.
Finishing Position – allows driver to pre-determine the position he wants to end the race in.
Nap Mode – for boring races gives a driver time for a power nap while car goes into auto-pilot.
Jump – appears to be a secret option the exact nature of which we are yet to understand.
Mum – gives a driver the option to instantly connects his mother’s mobile phone for a quick chat when the need arises, also, when Mum calls it glows.
Deploy Angry Birds – useful to launch at rivals during close racing situations.
Like – for Facebook and in keeping with the social media craze.
Jenson – we have asked the media people at Lotus to explain what the Jenson button does…

I can't believe how many people seemed to think the step noses were banned or going to be otherwise gone, or that you thought this type of front wing was going this year too. Doesn't anyone follow the regs? No part of this car is surprising if you have any idea about the rules. I also don't understand how you can think any part of the car that helps it go faster is "disgusting". Why do you want innovations that provide development possibilities to be curtailed? You sound like Eddie Jordan with his "it doesn't look smart" nonsense. Who cares! They aren't supposed to look good, they're supposed to make the car perform better than its competitors'. Sometimes I really wonder why you guys don't just watch IndyCar instead. This is Formula 1, the development race IS the race.

/soapbox


And the "jump" button is for hopping fences and landing on Seb's FX.

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*joins you on the soapbox*

Step noses are there because they are the best solution to a problem. They will only go away if (a) they are banned or (b) the allowed alternative gives an advantage.

And that is how it should be.
This is F1, not a beauty contest. If the car looks good it's because a fast car happens to look good, not because it is designed to look good.

Personally, I hate the idea of a "modesty panel".
Form should follow function. Anything that is there purely to make the car look cooler is no better than the horrible plastic crap boy racers buy in Halfords and bolt to their car to make it look faster.

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I would think they will follow the route of lotus. Ie. it adds a bit of weight and has no advantage so until we find it can give an advantage it will be left off.

Interesting article here:

http://somersf1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/ ... lysis.html

It breaks basic colour theory. When you look at complementary colours, Red gold and black just dont show up. It's not a combination that works. It's like putting lime green with pink. Two completely non contrasting colours against each other just look terrible.

Think of web design. Think of early websites. Before decent web designers, we had really god awful colour schemes. You rarely see this anymore as most people understand the basics of colour theory.

If it was black and gold OR black and red, it'd work fine, but when you introduce a tertiary color you have to be very careful about how you go about including it, and generally the tertiary colour will be a minor varient (either 30 or -30 degrees difference) of the primary or secondary colour.

I recommend reading this: http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-d ... lor-theory and this: http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/ ... designers/

Interestingly if Lotus were going for a triadic colour scheme, they are half right, however the black would need replacing with blue.

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Lime green and pink is amazing. Please see the entire history of the Lilly Pulitzer preppy wasp outfitting empire.

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The pics I was waiting for

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2011 Winner of PF1's pick 10 competition.

Sideposts look sick though...

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I agree with you.

However, Gold & Black is fine, the bright Red though is killing the flow. As you know there isn't just one colour combination theory. The one that you mentioned is the simplest one, Triad... there are a bunch of combinations, like: Complementary, Split-Complementary, Chromatic, Monochromatic, Tetrad, Compound, High Contrast, Pentagramic...

The one with GOLD-BLACK fits very well with Shades & Monochromatic.... I just can't see the red fitting anywhere though. Terrible contrast.

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The Miami Heat, Florida Panthers, and Mexico soccer team all look pretty good in black/gold/red.

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The more i see it the more i really am liking it, colour and all included but i really don't seem to like the alpine stars overalls, the colours just don't seem right on them.

Black gold and red is beautiful.

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"You are the universe expressing itself as a Human for a little while..."

if it were blue red and gold . it would be disgusting. black,red and gold is gorgeous