Formula 1 teams have agreed an amendment to the 2013 regulations, yet to be finalised, which will see the stepped noses disappear next season.
The majority of the cars on the grid, bar McLaren’s MP4-27 and Marussia’s MR01, feature a stepped nose which came as the result of new regulations for 2012 to reduce the risk of a car launching into the air should the nose make contact with the rear of another car – much like Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen at the 2010 European Grand Prix.
The new-look received mainly negative feedback from fans who branded the noses ‘ugly’. The new regulations give a team the option to cover the step with a ‘modesty panel’, which simply hides the step according to McLaren’s technical director Paddy Lowe.
“We have agreed a rule that allows a ‘modesty panel’, which in effect means you can take the existing cars and existing structures that have a step and put a cover there,” said Lowe.
“The way it’s managed is that the laminate and size of that panel is limited so that you can’t create an aero [advantage] out of it and also so that it plays no part in the forward impact.”
All 12 teams have agreed to the alteration, therefore it’s almost guaranteed to be included in the next issue of the technical regulations.
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