F1 2012 - This whole 'stepped-nose' thing

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Bear with me here but I'm a tad confused why the designers (apart from Mclaren) have opted for the lego look this year.

As I understand it, the new rules say that the nose needs to be 10cm lower -so why have a sudden drop which 1) doesn't look all that aerodynamic and 2) looks bloody ugly, when a smooth curve a-la Mclaren will do ?

Whats the percieved advantage of the 'step' ?

Just curious..
 
It's because they want to run their noses as high as possible. The sudden drop is the point where the max allowed height changes, so what they are doing is running at the maximum height the rules allow the whole way accross.

mclaren don't need to do this as they have never run at the max height like the other teams
 
Originally the FIA regulation was supposed make the nose even lower, however the teams objected to this as it meant they would have to completely redesign the tubs of their cars to lower the front bulkhead. Obviously this would involve extra cost, plus mean starting from scratch with designing their suspension setup.

This step is the compromise, where the forward bulkhead has remained at the height it was last year (625mm), but the nose must be a maximum of 550mm. McLaren have not been affected by this rule change as their design philosophy for the last few years has been to use a lower nose to gain a lower centre of gravity, hence why their nose is a smooth slope. Because of this, their car was already within the regulation.

The advantage of the step is that it leaves as big an open space as possible for air to be channelled to the leading edge of the floor of the car which is important for aerodynamics.

The noses will be getting even lower as in 2014 the nose must be a maximum of 250mm from the reference plane, aka the floor of the car.
 
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How are McLaren getting as high a volume of air moving as fast to the floor of the car without a high nose?

From JA:

There is a school of thought that McLaren did not need to do the stepped nose because they anticipated the 2012 rules in their 2011 design and thus have an already well sorted concept. But more of that another time.
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Just seen the RedBull, the nose doesn't look too bad
 
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Why has every other team gone with the step? Because it gives more development potential, McLaren have limited themselves. They have much less air going under the car to work with.
 
Mr Men said:
Why has every other team gone with the step? Because it gives more development potential, McLaren have limited themselves. They have much less air going under the car to work with.
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Remind me again why Ferrari have pull rod suspension on the front of their car?

;)
 
Mr Men said:
Why has every other team gone with the step?
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Because to not do so would have required redesigning the entire tub and they probably figured that it was less detrimental to just have a small step on the nose than to spend the winter period redoing virtually the entire rest of the car.

McLaren have been performing perfectly well without a high nose last year, they've no need to change their design philosophy
 
Kenai said:
Because to not do so would have required redesigning the entire tub and they probably figured that it was less detrimental to just have a small step on the nose than to spend the winter period redoing virtually the entire rest of the car.

McLaren have been performing perfectly well without a high nose last year, they've no need to change their design philosophy
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Last year they had EBD giving them massive downforce
 
So did others, they'll have thought about that and developed a way round it. They've not just sat there and said 'Oh well lads, no EBD, no high nose, lets just give up'

They had plenty of scope to get their nose much much higher than it is (without needing a step) and chose not to. This is either because the car works without having a higher nose & tub or because they're monumentally stupid. I know which I think is more likely.
 
Mclaren have also employed the use of the so called snowplow splitter under the nose, which it appears no other team has. In my opinion it looks like a much more considered approach than the stepped noses all the other teams have adopted, but what do I know. We will however soon find out!
 
Kenai said:
So did others, they'll have thought about that and developed a way round it. They've not just sat there and said 'Oh well lads, no EBD, no high nose, lets just give up'
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the stepped nose is in effect a high nose, giving them most air under the car? McLaren and RB had the best EBD. Others were not so reliant on it giving them downforce, did Lewis not say at launch they have not yet recovered the lost downforce from the EBD ban?
 
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