It is quite primitive, even compared to 1999 standards. Most of the other teams had gone for sculpted noses (with the EJ10 being an extreme example http://b.f1-facts.com/ul/a/5522), angled/curved front wing mounts (http://b.f1-facts.com/ul/a/5422), more aggressive and less boxy side-pod entries such as these two beauties, the Stewart SF2 and the Prost AP01
http://b.f1-facts.com/ul/a/5356
and the AP02 was a looker as well, with the stubbed, gilled corner of the sidepod http://b.f1-facts.com/ul/a/5432
along with the Arrows A20 with its rear outlet ‘humps’ in the sidepods http://b.f1-facts.com/ul/a/5467
There was such variety in car design back then, but it also struck the right balance between having distinguishable cars through significant shapes (sidepods, front wing, headrest etc) and not a masively unbalanced field of cars (relative to the 70s innovations, for instance). These 2012 stepped-nosed vaccum cleaners are depressing sometimes.