Renault R29 Launch 2009 : First Pictures

[Giuseppe F1]

http://www.sutton-images.com/previews/dgb0919jan08.jpg

http://www.sutton-images.com/previews/dgb0919jan02.jpg

http://www.sutton-images.com/previews/dgb0919jan01.jpg

http://www.sutton-images.com/previews/dgb0919jan03.jpg

Interestingly, Regie move from elf to Total logos for their oil (Total is Elf's parent company).......havent all Renault F1 cars ALWAYS had elf alliance in the past?

[Giuseppe F1]

The Shark-fin lives!!!!! :)

[Giuseppe F1]

Livery works slighty better without the dark blue as red complements the ING orange/white and Renault Yellow better than the dark blue did.

Still strange not to see Elf anymore...

[ioan]

Interesting design. Those red end plates (both front and rear) are ugly and don't fit in the rest of the, quite nice, livery.

[Ranger]

I'm surprised this isn't horrendously ugly like the last two Renaults.

The livery isn't too bad, I'll have to see more angles of the car to make a judgement.

[Giuseppe F1]

Looks pretty sexy from this angle....

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/photos/imgactu/zoom09/renault-launch-z-05_190109.jpg

[jonny hurlock]

Livery works slighty better without the dark blue as red complements the ING orange/white and Renault Yellow better than the dark blue did.

Still strange not to see Elf anymore...

still sad to see elf gone imo, livery looks great


The Shark-fin lives!!!!! :)


Looks pretty sexy from this angle....

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/photos/imgactu/zoom09/renault-launch-z-05_190109.jpg

imo the shark fin does makes it much better with these high rear wings. btw that front wing looks horrible imo

[Dr. Krogshöj]

Elf is still on the engine cover. Maybe they use Total fuel and Elf lubricants. :)

It is definitely the most unique design so far. It doesn't look nice in the McLaren sense of the word but I appreciate the fact that we see distinctive desings.

[Ranger]

After consideration and some more angles, that livery looks quite good!

The shark fin helps make the back of the car look pretty tidy.

The front is a bit dubious, very wide nose like the Williams.

[millencolin]

The shark fin sure does work well with the higher rear wing.... from an appearance point of view that is

[Ranger]

New lid for Fernando as well:
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/picture_free.php/dir/2009ren1/image/l__26y0855-2

[Hawkmoon]

That livery is even uglier than last years mess. I figured the Renault would be an ugly bugger with 2009 spec aero but this is even worse than I thought it would be.

[Knock-on]

http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=100923

More pics

[PolePosition_1]

The front end reminds me slightly of the ugly front end Williams had few years back.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/f1 have got front end view - looks horrible!

[ioan]

The engine cover and especially the rear of the sidepods looks strange (and a tad ugly).

[Dzeidzei]

That livery is even uglier than last years mess. I figured the Renault would be an ugly bugger with 2009 spec aero but this is even worse than I thought it would be.

Have to agree. With the shark fin and not really in Renault colors this is by far the ugliest spec09 car so far.

But there is still time. The title race is open :)

Williams would be cool if they stayed with their interim livery. Which they dont, Im afraid.

[ioan]

:eek: My eyes, my eyes!!!

I'll never get over that HUGE nose! I'm sure I'll have nightmares tonight.

[K-Pu]

Well, at least it´s not as horrid as last year´s thing/spawn/Michael Reiziger XD

Well I like it.

What is, perhaps, the most interesting thing is that the nose is the third interpretation of the new regs we have seen.

[keysersoze]

That's a lot of, um, yellow on that car. Egg yolk yellow at that. Perhaps it will be an acquired taste . . .

[Brown, Jon Brow]

This the ugliest F1 car I have seen since 2004 :bigcry:

That's a lot of, um, yellow on that car. Egg yolk yellow at that. Perhaps it will be an acquired taste . . .

That is the more traditional Renault shade.

[wedge]

That is one ugly looking car. From some angles it resembles a pedal car!

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45389000/jpg/_45389292_006746175-1.jpg

Interestingly a lot of teams have gone for a broad-shaped nose, Ferrari have gone the opposite with a pointy shaped nose.

[Knock-on]

I really don't like it at all.

Combination of the Livery and that nose :(

[samuratt]

I don't mind how it looks if it is fast enough!

That said, I have to admit the front nose is quite ugly and the livery isn't much better than last year.

Go Fernando!!!

[pino]

I don't like the design and don't like the combination of yellow/red colours, nothing against Spain though :p :

[POS_Maggott]

Is it 1995 again? Did... did I miss the memo?

[Dave B]

Hmmm, it's not pretty. In the head-on shots the fat wide nose only serves to reinforce how narrow the rear wing is.

Still, if it's fast I'm sure Renault will think it's beautiful.

[Bagwan]

Looks to me like a package of KERS below the nose , nice and low for good stability and weight distribution .
Looks to me like a very robust wing attachment , to counteract any light touches , which are likely , with it's width .

Looks heavy , like it has a coat on , which will be removed for the first race , so nobody sees the real design until it's too late .
I don't think these launch machines look too close to what we'll see at the starting line , as , with all the regs changes , it makes more sense than most years , to keep one's cards very close to the vest ..

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I liked the previous Renault livery. The yellow and dark blue reminded me of the Williams Renault touring cars. This new car looks awful. I don't want Renault to win just because they have produced a wheelie bin with wings.

[ioan]

Looks to me like a package of KERS below the nose , nice and low for good stability and weight distribution .

Don't think so. It's way to high compared with the others who installed them under the fuel tank. Also so much weight in the nose cone would mean a very understeery car in slow corners.

[wedge]

Don't think so. It's way to high compared with the others who installed them under the fuel tank. Also so much weight in the nose cone would mean a very understeery car in slow corners.

True but its still useful in terms of adding lead plate ballast to alter weight distribution

[SGWilko]

Elf is still on the engine cover. Maybe they use Total fuel and Elf lubricants. :)

It is definitely the most unique design so far. It doesn't look nice in the McLaren sense of the word but I appreciate the fact that we see distinctive desings.

My understanding is that Total is the parent company of Elf......

[Bagwan]

Don't think so. It's way to high compared with the others who installed them under the fuel tank. Also so much weight in the nose cone would mean a very understeery car in slow corners.

Do we know which form of KERS the Renault team is using ?
If its electrical , it should be possible to run it on the front brakes , and store it under the tank .

I think the more interesting idea would be to try to get some gyroscopic action out of a horizontal version , perhaps under that nose , to try to keep the front of the car flat in those corners . Improving the control over pitch might help the understeering caused by the extra weight .

As such , I don't think it's so far fetched , my friend .

[Allyc85]

Looks alright until you get the head on view where it looks hideous!!

[truefan72]

That's a lot of, um, yellow on that car. Egg yolk yellow at that. Perhaps it will be an acquired taste . . .

my thoughts exactly.

I really liked last year's color scheme. It astruck the right balance and was probably the nicest looking out there, save the Mclaren's

now this yeas' liverly is as you said, too yellow and struggles to maintain a balance of contrast

[donKey jote]

:eek: My eyes, my eyes!!!

I'll never get over that HUGE nose! I'm sure I'll have nightmares tonight.

What's wrong with a big nose :mad:

I somehow find donkey noses quite sexy :p :D

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

[ioan]

Do we know which form of KERS the Renault team is using ?
If its electrical , it should be possible to run it on the front brakes , and store it under the tank .

As far as I know they are running an electrical one.
Using it one the front brakes would either mean having bulky front brake systems that would not fint into the front wheel, and thus heavily interfere with the car's aerodynamic or having axles that go onboard from the front wheels which would again interfere with the aeroplus would overcomplicate the front suspension geometry.

Every team that uses electrical KERS are using it on the rear axles and the system is located together with the transmission casing.



I think the more interesting idea would be to try to get some gyroscopic action out of a horizontal version , perhaps under that nose , to try to keep the front of the car flat in those corners . Improving the control over pitch might help the understeering caused by the extra weight .

As such , I don't think it's so far fetched , my friend .

What if the car loses it's nose than?

I'm not saying it's far fetched at all, just that it is impractical in a performance oriented race car where cornering stability and aerodynamics are the most important.

[ioan]

What's wrong with a big nose :mad:

I somehow find donkey noses quite sexy :p :D

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

Well if it's a donkey than its OK I won't have to see it near the studs every race! :p :

[DazzlaF1]

One word YUCK!

That is both ridiculous and hideous

[Knock-on]

What's wrong with a big nose :mad:

I somehow find donkey noses quite sexy :p :D

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

Why the long face Donks?

[gloomyDAY]

Blah! Bring back the livery from the R25.

[Dzeidzei]

One word YUCK!

That is both ridiculous and hideous

Did Symonds manage to get a minibar in the nose?

Now that I would understand. If Kimi was driving the car...

Seriously, by far the ugliest piece of design. By far.

[Nikki Katz]

Hmmm, well, I guess it'll get noticed on the track! Wasn't that the thinking behind Minardi when they painted their car luminous yellow/green?

I'm getting a headache looking at that thing.

[Dzeidzei]

About the shark fin... I thought the new regs simply banned these hideous structures. There should be rule stating that the car should look as decent as the regs allow.

Will there be another shark fin on the grid?

[AndyRAC]

:eek: My eyes, my eyes!!!

I'll never get over that HUGE nose! I'm sure I'll have nightmares tonight.

Enough about Flavio, but what about the car?? He He!!

[jens]

I really enjoy that livery, undoubtedly one of my favourites. :) I am a big fan of yellow and I think red together with yellow is better than orange together with yellow (as it was in the past two years), so the livery has improved!

The nose however is absolutely insane. :laugh: Someone complained that modern F1 cars look too similar. Well, if we take just one detail - nose section - we have already seen four totally different approaches! Not bad! ;)

Generally it looks like Renault has tried to get as much weight forward as possible. Due to the introduction of KERS there have been a lot of worries about possible balance problems, so we see this is Renault's approach to try to overcome them. We'll see, how does that work out.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

Those who bash the livery can come up with something better that contains white, orange and navy blue for ING, red for Total and yellow for Renault. It's not easy to make a good looking car livery if you have to utilise five colours.

[donKey jote]

Why the long face Donks?

no long face on me till the fat lady sings rule britannia again :bigcry: :D

If I were allowed more lines in my sig I'd borrow your old egg-basket one and replace your Butt with Fred :p :

[Tazio]

It looks fine, and will outperform last years challenger. I predict they get out of the gate fast!
Only 65 days until Oz! :)

[wmcot]

New lid for Fernando as well:
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/picture_free.php/dir/2009ren1/image/l__26y0855-2

The addition of the red will get him prepared for the Ferrari livery! ;)

[wmcot]

I have no complaint about the livery, but I had hoped the "shark fins" were gone!

[WSRfan82]

DAM!!! thats is one sexy looking car...best livery so far id say :)

[Big Ben]

I don't like the way it looks... the livery looks bad (though as someone said... they HAD to use all these colors)... the nose is just awful and the rear part of the sidepods looks quite strange (at least)... As for the wings I think it's an established thing that they don't go too well together...

However it's not a beauty contest. I'm pretty curious to see the cars on track :D

[Bagwan]

[quote="ioan"]Every team that uses electrical KERS are using it on the rear axles and the system is located together with the transmission casing.QUOTE]

Just read that Ferrari tested with batteries under the nose , for weight distribution , but decided that high amperage cables running through the cockpit wasn't a good idea .

So , I wasn't as far off-base as suggested .

Mind you , with regards to the Renault , I think I saw a picture of that nose , with the thick section underneath , and it looked like it was a hollow space , not a pack of high voltage .

[ioan]

Every team that uses electrical KERS are using it on the rear axles and the system is located together with the transmission casing.


Just read that Ferrari tested with batteries under the nose , for weight distribution , but decided that high amperage cables running through the cockpit wasn't a good idea .

So , I wasn't as far off-base as suggested .

Mind you , with regards to the Renault , I think I saw a picture of that nose , with the thick section underneath , and it looked like it was a hollow space , not a pack of high voltage .

Yeah I also read that they were considering a system with the batteries in the front wing! :eek:
In the end they gave up on it.
They also thought about the one with the batteries in the nose cone, but having high voltage cables going through the cockpit plus the danger represented by a crash put them off.

You were right, those were interesting ideas, still I doubt they are practical.