Toro Rosso considered 'twin tusk' nose for its 2014 F1 car

The Renault-engined STR9 launched at Jerez today with an anteater-style nose after the Italian-based team decided against the design.

"We did look at something similar, it wasn't quite the same [as the Lotus] but it was along very similar lines," said Key when asked by AUTOSPORT about the design.

"In theory it looked very positive but in practice it had a few downsides so in the end we went with something a little safer.

"But it's going to be year of lots of changes and if the Lotus way is a trend that develops and clearly holds a benefit, you never know, maybe we will revisit it."

The Lotus design is aimed at minimising the airflow blockage created by the nose of the car.

But when asked whether this was found not to be a big as a gain as suspected, Key responded: "Yes, that was the feeling we got.

"But clearly they have worked on it for longer and maybe they have found solutions to that."

Key added that it was a close call between the various nose concepts on offer for the new regulations.

Because the front wing dictates airflow, the nose concept needed to be locked down relatively early in the aerodynamic design process because of how it influences the rest of the car.

But the philosophy that has driven nose design in recent years, keeping the nose as high as possible to maximise the airflow under the car, prevailed.

"It was a little marginal," he said of the decision on nose concept.

"The thing with the nose is that you have to put it down at some point because it defines a lot of the philosophy [of the car] behind it.

"There has been some interesting stuff we have seen this week, Ferrari is totally different.

"For us this was a logical choice because fundamentally a high nose [is an advantage]."