AltranEver since photos of Williams running a 2009 rear wing started to circulate, there's been much speculation over exactly what we can expect from Formula One machinery in 2009. According to the head of Altran, in Spain, fans could be in for a few surprises.

Alfonso Martinez heads up the Madrid branch of Altran, a French engineering company who are working with Renault on the design of next year's R29 chassis. The two companies are long-time collaborators, having worked together for six years. In a recent interview with Marca, Martinez explained the relationship between the two organisations.

From 2005 onwards (the season in which Fernando Alonso won his first World Championship), Altran have had an engineer permanently based at Enstone. Borja Rendueles, who coincidentally like Alonso hails from Asturias, works directly with the French manufacturer at their factory in England. The rest of the team from Altran are based in Madrid.

The Altran engineers obviously know what to expect from the R29, but Martinez thinks the sport's fans will be left open-mouthed.

"[The cars] will have a retro look and there's going to be a tremendous shock when you see them," he explained. "There is still dirty air generated, less than before, but it's still there. However, the size of the rear wing has been significantly reduced."

Martinez's comments about the amount of dirty air generated are interesting, as the basis for a radical redesign of the cars was to reduce this particular effect. Let's hope it has proven successful.

There was quite a degree of surprised generated in the Formula One blogosphere when photos of the Williams using a 2009 wing first emerged. I suspect, though, that a few races into the season we'll have forgotten all about the cars' physical appearance and will be discussing the latest on-track controversy. And getting rid of winglets - that just has to be a good thing.