2009 F1 car comparisons: BMW

BMW’s F1.09 is the last new F1 car we’ll see this month. Here’s a look at the car BMW hope to challenge for the championships with up alongside the other 2009 models.

Front

BMW are definitely in the square-shaped front nose club along with most teams besides Toyota and McLaren. This front-on shot shows up the different style of the BMW side pods, which rise up where they extend away from the driver.

The F1.09 also has some unusual flip-ups behind the front wing and in front of the front wheel highlighted in this close-up:

Side-by-side

The BMW side pod looks similar in height to the McLaren’s. But where the MP4-24’s flicks up into an integrated exhaust design, the F1.09’s ends with a section of exposed exhaust. It seems that the exhaust configuration on the Ferrari F60 as it was launched did not comply with the regulations and they are believed to be modifying it at present. Will BMW have to do something similar?

There is a split between the teams in terms of which ones of side pod wings and which ones have ‘clean’ designs. BMW, McLaren and Renault are in the ‘clean’ camp; Ferrari, Toyota and Williams have all created some version of the pod wings.

Top-down

BMW, like all Ferrari’s rivals, don’t seem to have produced as tightly-packaged a car as Ferrari have done with the F60. It reminds me of one of my all-time favourite Ferraris, the 1989 640.

Their front suspension layout is closer to the Ferrari/Toyota norm than the unusual layout found on McLaren’s MP4-24.

Quite a few people have commented that the 2009 F1 cars all look very similar. I think in the case of the front and rear wings that is largely the case, but there are a lot of detail differences, particularly in the rear three-quarters.

The files these images are based on can be found on the F1 Fanatic drop.io if you want to have a closer at look at them and do some image manipulation of your own. Be sure to post your results in the drop.io so we can all have a look, and if you find something interesting I’ll be sure to include it in the next round-up.

2009 Formula 1 cars

• BMW F1.09 unveiled – pictures (2009 F1 car launches)
• Renault R29 revealed in Portugal – pictures (2009 F1 car launches)
• Williams FW31 introduced in interim livery (2009 F1 car launches)
• McLaren MP4/24 revealed – pictures and video (2009 F1 car launches)
• Toyota reveals the TF109 – pictures and video (2009 F1 car launches)
• Ferrari F60 launched at Mugello – pictures & video (2009 F1 car launches)

NB. Apologies to those of you having trouble with some of the larger images not displaying when you click on them – I am working on the problem.

Image copyright: BMW – BMW.ag; Toyota – Toyota F1 World; Ferrari – Ferrari spa; Williams – Williams/LAT; Renault – Renault/LAT; McLaren – www.mclaren.com

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