AFP

Lotus F1 team displays the new E20.

Related Stories

• Ferrari unveils 'ugly nose' F1 car
• Caterham F1 'ugly platypus' first out
• Raikkonen back behind the wheel
• FIA bans reactive ride height systems

Lotus unveiled its 2012 Formula One car for returning ex-champion Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, with its 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 stipulates 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 its car on Monday before the first four days of testing in Jerez. Two more tests follow before the season starts on 18 March in Australia.

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

Meanwhile, Lotus has set Kimi Raikkonen a clear target of taking the former Renault team to fourth place in the Formula One championship in his comeback season.

Champions Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all finished above former champions Renault last year but Lotus team co-owner Gerard Lopez said beating one of them was a realistic aim.

“The hopes are to have a strong car, strong drivers, of which one of them is obviously an ex-world champion,” he declared in a factory presentation of the new Renault-powered E20 car on the Lotus website (www.lotusf1.com).

“Then you have to bring the car up to the front of the pack, probably trying to aim for fourth as a reasonable goal for this season.”

-Reuters & Sapa-dpa