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Team boss Peter Sauber has suggested that the unsightly new 2012 'platypus nosed' design of F1 car was "almost inevitable" given the changes in the design regulations, hinting that his own team's new car would feature the same design.

The potential horror of the 2012 grid was revealed last week, when Caterham became the first team to show off their 2012 car design, including a steep step in the front of the nose.

The new design, which is expected to be copied throughout the rest of the grid as the new cars are rolled out, is a result of the FIA's new height restrictions on the nose of the car.

For 2012, the maximum height of a car's nose has been reduced for safety reasons, to prevent the possibility of a car's nose rising into the cockpit of another car in a crash.

But with the rules regarding the rest of the front end of the car remaining unchanged, the stepped approach appears to offer the best option aerodynamically.

Ferrari have already suggested that their new car will be "ugly", and Sauber himself has said that the rest of the grid will look similar to the Caterham.

"For reasons of aerodynamics, this step in the nose is almost inevitable," the long-time F1 team boss told the Sonntagsblick newspaper in Switzerland.

The team's new Ferrari-powered C31 is set to be launched on February 6th, the day before the start of pre-season testing at the Jerez circuit.

And Sauber also confirmed in the interview that the new design had successfully passed the requisite FIA crash tests before the start of testing, in line with the new stricter tests for 2012.

And he suggested that the car would be decorated in a different livery to the scruffy-looking 2011 car.

"That is a secret of course," he muttered conspiratorially when asked about the car's pait scheme, "All I can say is that the basic colour is white, but the overall impression is dark, with red."

He went on: "In short, it is different [compared to 2011]. I remain a friend of the colour white, although often on television some cars cannot be well distinguished."

Sauber will enter the 2012 F1 campaign with drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez, in an unchanged lineup from 2011.