Jenson Button is unfazed by McLaren's different-looking nose, saying only time will tell if they made the right decision.
While the Woking squad's designers have opted for a traditional nose for the MP4-27, the rest of the pack have all gone for the stepped nose, which many have dubbed the "platypus" or "hammerhead".
Button, though, played down the different styles as it is too early to draw any conclusions.
"If you have a look at the style, aerodynamically, of a McLaren over the past couple of years it has always been different at the front end compared with its competitors." he is quoted as saying in The Telegraph.
"I'm not worried in any way, also not excited in any way because I don't know whether one [style] is better than the other."
The 2012 pre-season testing kicked off in Jerez on Tuesday with Button taking the MP4-27 through its paces.
Although he finished eighth on the timesheets, the 32-year-old feels McLaren have a solid base to work from and they should be a lot more upbeat than last year.
"Yes, it does feel very different to testing last year," he said. "It's been a good starting point. What we wheeled out this morning was a great base. I don't know where it's going to end up by the time we get to the first race but the important thing is the balance feels all right.
"So it's a good starting point. I'm looking forward to working with it and I'm happy. There are no niggly areas with the car, it's still the starting point and we didn't do any set-up work to improve the balance. And you're never going to start with a perfect car. It was just putting some miles on it really.
"But I'm very happy in the car. I'm in a good position. I'm really low, which I always like, trying to get as low as possible, the way that the car is. I'm much lower than last year. I can just about see out. I love that position. I feel well inside the car. I feel I'm part of it. Promising times. But we don't know where we stand and we won't do until the first race."
