I would guess the fastest cars are almost always perceived as better looking. What would be interesting is to compare how, historically, that perception has changed from before and after the performance has been revealed on track.

No I thought about that too, I guess Newey doesn't like gills cause they mess up a clean flow. They might add some for the hottest races, but I suspect they try to vent all air at the back.
In the side view picture you can see one small opening, like a single gill, down below and just behind the RedBull logo. But that doesn't really count, on the whole the RedBull is clearly trying to avoid gills compared to the other teams.

Do we need to wait for the first qualifying session of the season to hear the typical cliché of “The championship is over !” ?

Apparently not :)
Whatever else may turn up, that Merc wins the understated style award.
I've yet to see the stats of the correlation of style to performance though.

I don't imagine that it's going to be too slow either ;-) I do hope they don't win 20+ races again though.

@steve pretty sure merc had to run a larger rear wing on avg.

I think those shoulders, the rearwards extension of the halo if you will, are hollow. Used to channel out the warm radiator air at the back, and therefore very lightweight.

Is it me? Or does anyone else notice that the displayed item has not one single "shark gill" vent slot visible?
I thought the Merc was unusual in only showing three small slots.
OK, wait for the real car that appears on track…

I seem to recall a comment from Mercedes that the main problem with the "zero" sidepod design was that it was too efficient in the generation of down force and that the suspension couldn't handle the tendency to go too low, stall and rise (porpoise) so they had to run it non-optimally and generate downforce from wings and suffer drag.

So, back to your comment about suspension there.
Back in the previous ground effect era they had suspension designs, now banned, that dealt with that bounce.
This set of regs was probably deliberately done with those bans in mind and setting a design challenge to do the job without the previous fixes.

It’s brilliant isn’t it. I can’t wait for testing to begin and we can see more details.

Of course every element plays it’s part and one can’t function without the other. But I just find it fascinating that everyone assumed that the sidepod-design was the key element to Red Bull’s performance (teams copying it etc) and now Red Bull has come up with a different approach - while most teams have finally caught up with the “old” design. It’s one of those things I love about F1 and I am very curious how things will work out!

I think those shoulders, the rearwards extension of the halo if you will, are hollow. Used to channel out the warm radiator air at the back, and therefor very lightweight.

To put it perhaps clearer, with regards to raising the center of gravity

not suggesting anything, moreso trying to understand that curve upwards at the back… if there's weight behind it and if they're putting that weight higher just to push the air down back there, that doesn't make much sense to me…

Looking at the technical regulations there's not much latitude as to the exhaust. What are you suggesting?

Not necessarily. In all Mercedes sims the no sidepods had it running at optimum speeds but they just couldn't translate it to track, if Newey's managed this it's going to be a bit of a nose rub for Mercedes initial 22 concept.

I'm no aerodynamicist but logic dictates they're pushing a lot of air down through to that rear suspension. Such a clear channel there where as last year and in other cars this year it's all a bit bulbous and ugly around there. I wonder if that's due to a revelation or just being more transparent about what they've always known.

Assuming there's some weight behind that bodywork (is it exhaust?) and it's not just an aero device, pushing that higher up goes against some solid principles and just goes to show how much that aero is worth.

Also the sidepod is looking more like an aircraft wing than ever before… Fascinating stuff.

The sidepod does generate some kind of skirt effect so its rather important