McLaren admit MP4-27 had dummy exhausts at launch

[John S]

Perhaps they were trying to wind up the other teams?  

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has admitted that the exhausts seen on the MP4-27 during its launch in Woking last week, were in fact fake outlets.
 
Teams often disguise parts of their cars by moulding fake parts from plastic, rather than carbon fibre, in an attempt to confuse their rivals or hide unique innovations.
 
Whitmarsh admitted that the rather odd looking exhaust exits on the MP4-27, which jut out beyond the bodywork, weren't what would be seen during testing.
 
"The exhaust was made of plastic, you won't see those components in that form again," he told Auto Motor und Sport.
 
"The car will look different at Jerez to what it looked last week, and a lot different in Australia."
 
During the cars shake down at the weekend, in which Oliver Turvey was behind the wheel, Whitmarsh also admitted that they tested a series of new, unseen parts.
 
"At the weekend at Idiada we did an aero test where we had a series of news parts that were not on the car at Woking."

Thef1times.com, Today.

[stealthhaggis]

Don't care what they change as long as they keep the nose looking like that!  If they change that to a 'stepped' nose I'll have to start watching F1 in normal Definition due to the ugliness of the cars!

[lkjohnson1950]

None of the teams like the nose solution, it was forced on them by a desire to get as much air to the floor as possible while following the new rule about maximum height of the nose forward of the wheels. Interesting that only McLaren doesn't have the step.