Scuderia Ferrari became the first Formula One team to unveil its 2011 racer, the F150 at Maranello.
Following the final-race heartbreak that cost the world drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi last year, the Italian outfit hopes that the new design of the F150 can deliver better results.
The design of the F150 incorporates the numerous 2011 regulation changes, including an adjustable rear wing and the return of KERS, as well as the removal of items now banned, such as F-ducts and double diffusers.
“The major aspects with the most impact on the project were connected to the aerodynamic development,” explained technical director Aldo Costa. “The double diffuser, the F-duct, is gone. The driver can’t change the car’s aerodynamic set up anymore. The underbody won’t have any ‘holes’ in the central part anymore. This is a fundamental change.
“The rear wing will be movable, so that the driver can overtake the car in front of him and use it in the qualifying according to his needs. The KERS is back. Although we’ve improved its size, it’s still quite big. Therefore the technicians had to redesign the car’s layout.”
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali is well aware that the team lost vital ground in the early stages of last year, so he is keen for the F150 to be competitive from the off.
Speaking to the media earlier this month, he said: “For 2011 our goals are very clear, that we are aiming to win both the titles, constructors’ and drivers’ titles, this must be the goal of our team.
“And so the expectations, that of being able to have a car competitive from the start, a reliable car, a strong car, and I have to say that we’ve seen this last year.
“If you’re not perfect within such a competitive environment, with opponents that are so strong with teams, which also varied numerically, then it becomes difficult to win.”
Fernando Alonso will have the unique opportunity to drive the car during some promotional filming at Fiorano, weather permitting. As for team-mate Felipe Massa, he will shake down the F150 the next day, before its first proper test at Valencia next week.
After missing out on the drivers’ championship last year, Fernando Alonso believes that this new F150 can deliever the results. Autosport.com has the details.
Fernando Alonso says Ferrari will be up to the challenge of fighting at the top this year, as the Italian squad unveiled its new car for the 2011 season.
The Spanish driver lost the 2010 title in the final race despite going into it as hot favourite for the crown.
Alonso admitted nonetheless that his first year at Ferrari could be considered a big success.
But the two-time champion said he is eager for more success this year, and is adamant Ferrari is ready to fight for the titles again.
“I am really motivated, really excited,” said Alonso during the launch of the F150. “2010 was an incredible year for me, the first year with Ferrari and I discovered a wonderful team, wonderful environment and really passionate for a driver.
“And 2011 will be an important moment, with a new challenge, changes in the regulations and also the drivers have to adapt to the new driving style and the recovery of KERS for instance. It will be a new year, a difficult year and we will have a lot to learn.
“But this new car is the fruit of the result of many months of work of our mechanics, engineers and people working for Ferrari, and it’s important to prepare for the new season. We have to commit completely in what we do and we are ready. We are up to the challenge.”
The Spaniard, who joined Ferrari from Renault at the start of last year, believes his second season at the team will be easier, as he is already adapted to it.
“Undoubtedly I think I know the team better now, I know the names of the mechanics something I didn’t last year because the beginning of the year was not easy for me so I am far more integrated in the team and the feeling that has been carried out through 2010 contributed to the creation of the new one, which is more comfortable and I think that I will feel that it will be easier for me to adapt to this new car and I hope it will be as strong as it is beautiful.”
And he is confident he will be able to start the season in strong fashion, as he admitted the pressure to win the title has not changed.
“We always feel pressure when you race for Ferrari, especially for me,” he added. “I had a difficult year and it is always important to feel excited to start the new year so I would like to start a profitable year with results I am confident we will do that with the new car.”
For Felipe Massa, last season’s campaign was a frustrating time for the Brazilian, as he was struggling to keep on the pace compared to his team-mate. Massa hopes that this new car will give him the opportunity to fight for the title. Autosport.com has the story.
Felipe Massa believes he still has opportunities ahead of him to challenge for the world championship again, despite playing a supporting role to Fernando Alonso last season.
Massa took the title fight all the way to the last lap of the season in 2008, but lost out to Lewis Hamilton.
He missed the second half of the ’09 season with the head injury he sustained in qualifying at Hungary, and last year had to sacrifice his own faint title hopes to help Alonso’s effort.
But at 29 he says he still has plenty of time ahead of him in Formula 1 and is excited by the prospect of this year’s Ferrari F150.
“I am not so old now – I still have some years waiting for me,” Massa said at today’s Ferrari launch.
“It is very important for us and I am very motivated and excited, I have followed the development of the car up until the first race and therefore I really am willing to start this new year.
“There are a lot of things to learn and understand as quickly as possible, new rules to take into account and this is an additional reason to commit myself to it, I am happy to start the tests this year and I hope this new car will live and grow as quickly as possible.”
Massa added that despite the late finish to the 2010 season and Ferrari’s early launch this year, the team believes it has had time to produce a car that can win from the beginning of the season.
“It seems that since the end of last year there was a lot of time, but time goes quickly, working on a car is not a simple deed,” he said. “I think that with the strength of our work we have a competitive car from the first race.”
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo says his team’s new F150 has to win the world championship this year on the back of last year’s title heartbreak.
As the covers were pulled off Ferrari’s aggressive-looking new car at Maranello, di Montezemolo said his sights are set on securing glory after seeing its 2010 championship dreams end at the final race.
“This year we have to win and we will do our best to win,” di Montezemolo declared at the team’s Maranello headquarters. “We have updated the team, we have made some improvements and we are awaiting the challenges against our first opponents.”
Team principal Stefano Domenicali acknowledged that Ferrari is only interested in achieving one ambition this year, having come so close to helping Fernando Alonso triumph in 2010.
“The F150 was created with a very simple aim – and it is so simple I don’t want to say it,” he said. “We only have to achieve it.
“We are starting from a season where we had difficult moments, but we also experienced some beautiful moments. We want to work on and build from these beautiful moments. Our team is motivated and has been renewed – and that is in the logic of continuous improvement.”
The F150 features a high nose, more heavily sculpted sidepods and revised suspension layout – although the team has not opted for the Red Bull Racing-type pull rod suspension at the rear.
Domenicali confirmed that major tweaks are being readied for the first race of the season – as development of the F150 continues in the wind-tunnel.
“The car you will see in the first race in Bahrain will be completely different from the one we use in the first tests in Valencia next week,” he said.
“Our target [for Valencia] will be driving many kilometres, for reliability and understanding how the new tyres behave and work. We know this year Pirelli is supplying new tyres. This is a difficult challenge but I am confident Pirelli will do the best to be competitive.”
He added: “I can promise that we really want to be successful. We are really motivated – even more strongly than in the past and the shout we still had in our throats in Abu Dhabi will be liberated and we will do better.”
Source: Autosport.com
Q&A with Aldo Costa:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89113
Q&A with Luca Marmorini:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89114
Q&A with Nikolas Tombazis:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89115
Q&A with Stefano Domenicali:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89117
Ferrari plans to introduce several new components to its F150 car for the first race of the season in Bahrain, the team’s chief designer Nikolas Tombazis said during the launch of the new challenger.
Tombazis revealed that the car’s rear suspension is very innovative, but suggested more radical parts will make their debut in the car by the time it races.
“We’ve been working on different innovations for the car: some of ours and some new for Formula 1 in general,” said Tombazis as Ferrari unveiled that car with which it hopes to return to championship-winning ways.
“The rear suspension is really innovative, so is the rear wing system. But there are more novelties coming up regarding the configuration for the first race, which aren’t in the car yet, for example something for the rear wing and the exhausts.”
Tombazis is confident that the design team has met all its targets with the new car.
“We think we did,” he added. “We set targets we think are very ambitious regarding the development in the wind tunnel, the car’s weight and the performance of some sub-systems. We think, based on our analysis, that we’ve reached these targets. Especially for the car for the first race.
“Having said that, the regulations are new and it’s impossible to know exactly where our competitors stand. I’m convinced that also they set themselves some ambitious targets.
“I’m confident in what we’ve done, but as long as we don’t see the cars on the grid for the first race, it’s a little bit difficult to answer this question.”
The chief designer also admitted he would have hoped the regulations allowed for more innovation, but conceded it was the only way to keep performance under control in F1.
“It would be nice having some more freedom and more time. The regulations are more and more restrictive, but there is a reason for that. Otherwise the cars’ performances would be too high and maybe even the costs for Formula 1 would be higher than they are today.
“It would be very nice having more technical freedom to create even more sophisticated systems for the car. It would also be nice to have more time available between one season and the next, to work not in such a rush on some aspects of the car.”
Source: Autosport.com
Felipe Massa has been promised that he will receive equal treatment from the Ferrari team this season. Autosport.com has the story.
Felipe Massa says he has been given promises by Ferrari management that he is not heading into 2011 just to play a supporting role to team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Although Massa was forced to back up Alonso’s title challenge from the middle of last year, in the wake of being ordered to sacrifice the lead at the German Grand Prix, Massa says the slate has been wiped clean for the start of this season.
“I am part of a team where I really want to win,” Massa said at the launch of Ferrari’s new F150 in Maranello on Friday. “I am here for that. I am not here to race, I am here to win.
“So I do have a guarantee and if one day a team should tell me that I don’t have any guarantees to win a grand prix, then actually I know I would not go to the team.
“I trust my team here 100 per cent. I know they can give me the perfect car, [and] the most competitive car to win as many races as possible.”
Massa struggled for form last season as he failed to get to grips with the characteristics of Bridgestone’s narrower front tyres.
With Pirelli having come on board for this season, however, Massa is optimistic that he can rediscover the pace that helped him challenge for the world title in 2008.
“Many changes have been implemented and we know, as I always said, that I didn’t like the tyres,” he said. “I had many difficulties with those tyres whereas I had positive impressions with Pirelli.
“Many things I was doing last year have changed in my driving style, and in my first day of tests with Pirelli tyres it was positive. I didn’t try doing anything different, but it was easier for me to drive the car with the new tyres.
“I think I am in a different condition and I am referring to the problems I had last year. Let’s hope the car will perform well from the beginning until the end. We know this is important in such a competitive championship as it was last year and will be this year as well.”
Double world champion Fernando Alonso believes the new F150 will suit his driving style more. Autosport.com has the full details.
Fernando Alonso believes he will be in a much stronger position for the start of his second season at Ferrari as the team will have been able to design the F150 with his driving style in mind.
The Spaniard admitted that he had needed time to adapt to driving a Ferrari when he joined at the start of last year following two seasons back at Renault, but thinks working with the Italian squad for a full championship campaign will have meant new developments were increasingly suited to him.
“There are no doubts that when I arrived in January 2010, I drove a car that had different characteristics to what I drove in previous years,” said Alonso at Ferrari’s launch in Maranello today.
“Now I will drive a car that is a continuity of what I drove in 2010. I think all the developments and the direction that you go with improvements in the car over one year has some kind of definition of your driving style.
“I think that helps the designer of the car and the technical people with next year’s car, so I think in 2011 there will be some kind of direction that we took in 2010 regarding my driving style.
“So I think I will feel more confident with this year’s car. I will feel more comfortable driving the car, it will be more predictable to me. And I know the team now – I know the people, I know the guys, I know the names of all my mechanics, something that was not the case in Bahrain last year. So that will also help.
“Last year I didn’t have the numbers of these guys [Ferrari designers] but now I do so I call them every two days to put some pressure on. Hopefully we’ll see in Valencia if that pressure helped or if it was the wrong pressure…”
The double world champion insisted he was taking a neutral approach to the first tests of the winter at Valencia next week and would not get too obsessed with the car’s initial speed.
“Today we have no big concerns,” said Alonso. “We know that this is the start of the season. We don’t have a great expectation, we don’t have big problems.
“There is a lot to do. It’s only 28 January. We haven’t started the tests yet. At Valencia we’ll know something more, and then we’ll see.
“The car [at the first race] will be very different from the cars we see in Valencia, and then again by races three and four there will be another development. The cars will change throughout the season, in such a long championship there will be many changes. So what will happen at the beginning of February is not so important.
“We will try to start the year in the best possible way, but without any panic.”
He added that his personal appearance was also set to change before the opening round, saying that the beard which had attracted so much comment in recent weeks was unlikely to last until Bahrain.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “In Bahrain I will have a more standard look because my mother doesn’t like this…”