Caterham CT01 reveals ‘alligator’ nose

An article on the new Caterham CT01 which features a series of images published by F1 Racing magazine has given us the first taste of what the F1 cars of 2012 may look like.

Strict technical regulations stipulating the front end of the cars can be no higher than 550mm, while the portion behind can be as high as 625mm, may dictate that this ‘alligator’ style nose is prevalent on all cars this year.

For their part Caterham has given us a few official preview images, but they don’t give away too much. Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer, explains the look: “The regulations have changed to limit the height of the nosebox to try to ensure that noses don’t get too high. Our challenge is that you always want to get the chassis as high as possible to allow clean air flow to the underside of the car, and what you see on the CT01 is our solution to that.

“As we’re the first car out it is obviously stirring up a lot of debate, but because of the 2012 regulations I think you’ll probably be seeing this type of nose on most of the cars this year.”

Let’s hope he’s wrong with his last comment!