Renault R29

[ISLAMATRON]

Red is due to new sponsor Total.

And I'm sure Total would appreciate a much more attractive livery.

[vyselegend]

Seems the Total sponsorship rumor was true...

But then, why is it still Elf that is painted on the car? They don't plan to keep Elf name and just soil livery a bit more with Total red, do they?

I for one didn't think it was possible to make Renault's livery uglier. They managed to do that! Impressive.

One thing that amuse me, is that the yellow "warning" stiker is no proof at all that the KERS unit is fitted in, it could be bluff. Toyota and Renault, among others are reported to be very late with KERS, maybe they just want to make their competitors doubt.

I still have a lot of trouble understanding how all the teams are narrowing the sidepods inlet, and covering the whole of the exhausts under the engine cover, along a very hot gearbox and KERS system, while they have no more cooling gills, and have to make engines last way longer...

Is a 1000 RPM reduction such a magic, that you need that much less cooling? Or are we going to see big holes in the covers coming in Oz? (where is it allowed to place extraction outlets btw?)

[ISLAMATRON]

main cooling exits at the rear, as we have seen on the F60, but we have not seen any rear end shots of the toyota or the Merc. The rear cooling exhaust for the F60 looks substantial.

[Saribro]

Seems the Total sponsorship rumor was true...

But then, why is it still Elf that is painted on the car? They don't plan to keep Elf name and just soil livery a bit more with Total red, do they? :?

Isn't Elf a part/subsidiary/brand of Total anyway?

[wesley123]

Elf is a part of Total i tohught so that explains why both are on it.

the livery looks much better, i like the stripes on it, better then the blue.

I rather think ferrari is bluffing, as they told twice they were behind scedule of kers and they werent sure the car is fitted with it in australia, but what we see at the launch? That is pretty dumb of them, they managed to do 3 months in less then 1 month?

[imightbewrong]

here are some more pictures:
http://www.f1today.nl/fotos/testsessies ... uari-2009/

there are some of parts of the rear wing there. Red end plates!

[vyselegend]

Isn't Elf a part/subsidiary/brand of Total anyway?

Yes it is, but the point is precisely to make Total the new sponsor, instead of Elf, as a move to take a bigger investment of the group in F1 (Total is the main group, Elf is a subsidiary brand indeed)

It's like, imagine, if the VAG group was sponsorising a kart, with the Skoda colours, and then decided to take a bigger part in the game, by replacing Skoda sponsorship by Volkswagen, and inthe end just put VW's blue on the Skoda name. (ok my exemple is not very good, but I didn't find any other).

This is incoherent IMO. But maybe they cared more about hiding the new sponsorship deal up to the official date than hiding the car itself, and by tomorrow the Elf stikers will have been replaced...

EDIT:

Oh, thanks to Imightbewrong's link, here it is:

[Miguel]

Great joke! I almost believed it! Red and Yellow... in a french car... mmm... something has to be totally wrong. I mean, with this strategy, Renault is going to earn a lot of respect in the most nationalistic parts of Spain but, come on. It's dead ugly anyway.

BTW: Thanks for the f1today link, Imightbewrong. There one can see that Toyota is also using or testing a shark fin. Also, the "Melbourne spec front wing" has to be the funniest picture ever.



Something went wrong in the CAD stage... At least it respects the common central profile.

[vyselegend]

mmm. I think I undersdand your philosophy. It's called sophism. By showing that the Renault is horribly ugly, and that the Toyota is horribly ugly, you're trying to tell us that that the Renault is actually a Toyota!

Oh sorry, guess it's time I call it a day...

[Metar]

I guess they're going for the Alonso fans with the Spanish colours?

[Rob W]

...but there are some peek shots already!

...which look suspiciously like plugs for sponsors given how clear the new sponsors' logos are in many of the shots.

[Jersey Tom]

Whoa, front suspension geometry is quite agressive!

Doesn't look aggressive here... bear in mind it's also in full droop...

[mx_tifoso]

It too, like the F60, has small openings on the bottom of the sidepods (under radiator inlets).

[ISLAMATRON]

It too, like the F60, has small openings on the bottom of the sidepods (under radiator inlets).

Makes sense since they are both reportedly using the same magnetti mirelli KERS system, arrangement would be similar so cooling solutions would also be similar.

[i70q7m7ghw]

WOW, interesting bodywork at the rear, and whats going on at the front!?

EDIT: Also, this livery looks 1000x better than the old one, thank god they've ditched most of ING blue!