Lotus unveil car for Raikkonen, with curved nose design

Feb 5, 2012, 17:23 GMT

Berlin - Lotus unveiled their 2012 Formula One car for returning ex-champion Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, with their version of the stepped nose having a more curved form than Ferrari and others.

Lotus, formerly the Renault team, launched the black and gold E20 via the internet before presenting it officially in Jerez, Spain, on the eve of Tuesday's start of pre-season testing.

New F1 regulation say that the front part of the nose has to be lower than the chassis, and teams have taken various approaches to comply, ranging from McLaren's fully curved design to the aggressive and less aesthetic step by Ferrari.

'The team knows how to build winning cars,' said Raikkonen, who won the title in 2007 for Ferrari before heading into two years of retirement after the 2009 season.

Now the Finn is back and one of six world champions on the grid, joining the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Sebastian vettel (Red Bull) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), who won his two titles while at Renault.

The champions Red Bull will launch their car on Monday before the first four days of testing in Jerez. Two more tests follow before the season starts on March 18 in Australia.

Lotus' launch was marred by a technical hitch as heavy traffic crashed their website and the team referred fans on their Twitter feed to watch the unveiling via YouTube.

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