Is the black vertical stripe on the 849 an homage to the 1984 Testarossa side vent?

If it is, it's a terrible attempt

 

What a stretch. The whole car is a stretch.

 

Not necessarily homage to the actual air vent, but most likely to the black air deflectors connecting the side strakes in 84' Testarossa. Vertical stripes in the 849 function as air deflectors too.

 

When we look at the 849 in profile, it's all too clear that the vertical black element is incomprehensible and looks more like a pallet strap holding the car body together to prevent it from detaching. It's incredible how with this strange, dark, and completely unrelated element, Flavio Manzoni managed to completely destroy the design's harmony, and, as a Italian journalist has already pointed out, it can only have been because he simply couldn't accept absolute harmony. What Rosario Scelsi later characterized as Manzoni's un-Michelangelisque "artistic" digressions, IMO, results from the man's obsession with the pursuit of originality through a futuristic language that has gone from bad to worse.


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Tough for sure. But it may very well become loveable.

To appreciate it, one needs to get closer to the car to understand...
1) The Testarossa reference
2) The dual layer body design (not only dual tone)
3) The enhancement of minimalistic design

The car has huge cooling requirements, yet it tries to achieve something similar with its body than the much praised 458. However, the bathtub form leading to side vents (originates from the Ferrari F1-75 car) is a challenging design element in the 849 where the valley contains sharp edged wall. The black belt design may actually improve how the intake area looks when standing next to the car.