Ferrari unveils new 2010 challenger

This is the brand new 2010-spec Ferrari. Will it be able to translate its aggressive looks to on track success following a difficult 2009 season? The new F10 certainly looks the part with the Red Bull Racing’s inspired high nose and long wheelbase design. The F10 was unveiled to the public via the official Ferrari website from the team’s base in Maranello, Italy.

New signing Fernando Alonso and the returning Felipe Massa will be hoping the new 2010-spec Prancing Horse can deliver better results after a frustrating campaign last season.

Ferrari took only a single victory in 2009 courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen at the Belgian Grand Prix but that was the only highlight for the Italian team.

With the F10, the Maranello-based outfit are feeling pretty confident that the new car will win races and hopefully the title.

“This championship will be very important for us,” said team boss Stefano Domenicali. “The last championship, for different reasons, was not very positive, that is why we are dealing with this one looking to be competitive – and this is what Ferrari deserves to have.”

He added: “We have two new drivers, why two new drivers? Fernando Alonso, is a twice world champion and we will say after the second one he will have a third one. He already appears among the big champions in F1, it is the right moment for him, for us, he wants to be successful and we want to repeat what the team concept is in our group.

“Felipe, we are talking of a new version of Felipe, but after such a dramatic championship like last year with the accident in Hungary and such a fantastic season, Felipe has all the assets to prove that he is a very successful one, he can prove that he wants to restart his pathway that destiny interrupted it in Hungary. Good luck to both of them.”

Technical specifications on the F10:

Chassis

Carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure
Ferrari longitudinal gearbox
Limited-slip differential
Semi-automatic sequential electronically controlled gearbox – quick shift
Number of gears: Seven, plus reverse
Brembo ventilated carbon-fibre disc brakes
Independent suspension, push-rod activated torsion springs front and rear
Weight with water, lubricant and driver: 620 kg
BBS Wheels (front and rear: 13-inch)

Engine

Type: 056
Number of cylinders: eight
Cylinder block in sand cast aluminium: V 90°
Number of valves: 32
Pneumatic distribution
Total displacement: .2398 cm3
Piston bore: 98 mm
Weight: > 95 kg
Electronic injection and ignition
Fuel: Shell V-Power
Lubricant: Shell Helix Ultra

9 thoughts to “Ferrari unveils new 2010 challenger”

  1. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are hopeful the new F10 will help them bring the world championship back to Ferrari during the 2010 season.

    The new car was unveiled in Maranello on Thursday, and hopes will be high that the Italian squad can return to winning ways following a disappointing 2009 season.

    Alonso, joining Ferrari from the Renault team, admitted the unveiled of the new car was an emotional moment for him.

    And the two-time champion is hoping the F10 will be strong enough to help him fight for the title this year.

    “This is the first time for me, the first presentation for Ferrari, and it is a big emotion for me,” said Alonso.

    “I want to thank the whole team because they have worked really hard in the last few months to create this dream, this new car, and I want to thank sponsors and partners as they have worked hard and there is a lot of passion.

    “We are ready to take this challenge and the responsibility to bring it to 100 per cent of its potential. Felipe and I will be a very strong team and we hope we will make all the Ferrari supporters around the world very proud to see this car winning the championship.”

    Team-mate Massa was also excited about the new car, which will hit the track this afternoon at Fiorano with the Brazilian at the wheel.

    “It is undoubtedly a great pleasure to be here at another presentation of Ferrari, it is a special moment because last year was very difficult,” Massa stated.

    “I had the accident and everything else that happened. I am proud and very happy and feel that I want to work more than ever, so I would really hope that this will be a very competitive car and we will be fighting for the championship and our Ferrari, the red car, will be in pole position.

    “We are really willing to do this and I am happy to be here.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  2. Formula 1 has banned refuelling from the start this season and saving fuel will be a critical point in achieving good results.

    Marmorini, speaking during the launch of the new F10 car, believes Ferrari’s close ties with partner Shell will help the Maranello outfit extract the maximum performance of the car while saving as much fuel as possible.

    “The 2010 season is most interesting,” said Marmorini. “It’s a new challenge, new if you consider the last 15 years. The ban on refuelling has made the fuel consumption parameter very important in performance terms. If you consume less it means the car is more lightweight – so the laptime performance is better.

    “We’ve worked hard on that, not only in our team, and consumption optimisation is team work and it involves players who are interested in the engine management. It involves electronic people and the drivers as well.

    “The fact that we work under the same roof, well we have a major advantage for optimising fuel consumption. A major contribution comes from this aspect. This is due to important partners like Shell that has allowed us to take a step ahead.

    “Together with Shell we have tried to optimise the lubricants and fuel so that we can have an advantage that makes the F10 a winning car.”

    The Italian also said Ferrari has carried out few changes to its power unit given the development freeze.

    “The engine is frozen which means that the main components can not be developed, so the possibility of developing performance directly is fairly limited,” he said. “So we have redesigned the exhaust system, the F10 exhaust system is fairly unconventional.

    “We have modified accessories because the engine will no longer have the KERS as it had in 2009, and we have invested in materials and processes to cut the engine cost.”

    He added: “We’ve never forgotten reliability. Reliability can never be forgotten can never be forgotten in engine development activity. In respect to that we have optimised and updated our bench simulation techniques. They are increasingly complex and getting closer and closer to the actual reality on the track during the season.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  3. Ferrari is confident that its all-new F10 design is a big step forward over last year’s car, as it eyes a full-scale world championship assault this season.

    The team’s 2010 challenger was unveiled in Maranello on Thursday morning, with the Italian squad hoping that its early focus on the new car will see a return to form after the difficulties of last season.

    Technical director Aldo Costa said: “We think this new car is a good step forward in aero development, car settings and also engine – and we are pretty much convinced we have taken a big step forward.

    “We cannot know what our competitors have done, and only during the first race will we realise that. But it carries all our passion and the determination of a group that wants to forget what happened last year and go back to being competitive from the very first race.”

    Ferrari began work on the F10 as early as last spring, and by the summer its design staff were working wholly on the new car after abandoning development of the F2009.

    Costa said that a lot of development work had been spent on optimising the double diffuser on the new car – having been forced to integrate as best as possible on last year’s machine.

    “As you know double diffusers were made legal during the previous season,” he said. “It revolutionised and changed the design of the cars – and we had to start it from zero, from scratch.

    “We have adopted the concept, and this is something that was not possible during the last championship when the car had already been designed.

    “A big change has taken place – not a dramatic change like from 2008 to 2009, but the car is substantially different from the previous cars.”

    Ferrari plans a host of aerodynamic upgrades prior to the first race, and has pencilled in major aerodynamic and mechanical upgrades over the course of the year.

    Chief designer Nikolas Tombazis added: “F10 is totally revised compared to the previous one.

    “We are very much satisfied with the work we have done, although we are very aware of the fact that we will see on track if we have worked enough.

    “It was good team work and all of the departments have worked hard. We are confident this car represents a step ahead and we look forward to seeing the first races.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  4. Although the regulation changes for this season are a lot less extensive than they were for 2009, Ferrari’s technical team have had their work cut out over the winter months. Charged with not only fine-tuning their engine and chassis to fit the new rules, they have also strived to overcome the performance shortfall that saw the Italian team clinch just one race win last year.

    With these twin aims, it’s no wonder that the F10 looks a very different beast to its F60 predecessor. The ban on refuelling has necessitated a wider and longer chassis to accommodate the larger fuel tank, while Ferrari have entirely redesigned the car’s rear – including a new, smaller gearbox – to better exploit the double diffuser, which other teams had championed in 2009.

    For designer Nikolas Tombazis, the F10 project has been a long slog, but one that he hopes will eventually prove fruitful.

    “For the F10 we had to review the whole project from the nose to the rear wing because of the new rules and also because we had to recover the obvious performance deficit we had last year,” he told Ferrari’s official website, as he explained the car’s main changes.

    “Because of the bigger fuel tank we had to deal with a longer and wider chassis. We have worked a lot in the aero department to try to exploit and widen the diffuser, making it more efficient, improving the airflow under the car, and therefore the downforce. We completely reviewed the gearbox and made it smaller so there’s more space for the diffuser and we also worked on the rear suspension. To improve the airflow to the car’s main body and more efficient diffuser, we’ve raised its nose and modified the lower part of the chassis. The front wing has also been improved.”

    2010’s ban on refuelling – as well as the grid-wide agreement to stop using KERS – has also imposed new demands on the Ferrari engine. And while the freeze on development, in place since 2006, restricts their freedom to make changes, engine department boss Luca Marmorini is pleased with the revisions they have made, especially in terms of reducing the engine’s fuel consumption.

    “Naturally we tried to improve performance but this only led to limited advantages because the engine development is frozen,” he explained. “From a technical point of view, reducing consumption was one of the most interesting things this year. We worked to find new and unusual fields of application for the engine, and we obtained some really interesting results.

    “Consumption equals performance. Consuming less fuel means less petrol on board, and so whoever consumes less fuel will be faster on the track. Naturally, constructing an engine that consumes less brings about higher risks in terms of reliability. We worked very hard over the winter with our simulations and we are confident that at the start of the year we should be reliable.”

    Weather permitting, the F10 will get its first shakedown run at Ferrari’s Fiorano circuit in Italy on Friday, before it’s transported to Spain for next week’s multi-team test at Valencia, which begins on Monday.

    Source: Formula1.com

  5. Fernando Alonso admits he is upbeat about the competitiveness of the new Ferrari F10, unveiled in Maranello on Thursday morning.

    The Spaniard is joining Ferrari from Renault, replacing Kimi Raikkonen and aiming to take the title back to Maranello after a poor 2009 season.

    Alonso says he is approaching the new challenge with calm as he is confident the work done by his new team will result in a competitive car.

    “I’m very calm regarding the work done by all the technicians at Ferrari,” said Alonso. “We have the best technicians in the world. The work we’re doing in February, with Felipe’s and my suggestions on the car, makes me really confident as far as the first race is concerned.

    “We have a team that is able to set up the best possible car for you in a very short time. What raises our confidence are the technicians, the data from the wind tunnel, the suspension, the mechanics and the engine. It might even happen that the data on the track will be even more encouraging.”

    The two-time champion said joining Ferrari is the realisation of another dream for him.

    “All the dreams in my career came true: now the one to become a Ferrari driver,” he added. “Ten years ago I met Ferrari managers, but back then it was about racing for a client team, like Prost.

    “Now the feeling is different, I can almost feel the car in Valencia, it’s very exciting. I hope to stay here for many years, because if you don’t win the championship one year, you don’t have to consider to change the team.”

    And the Spaniard insisted his relationship with new team-mate Felipe Massa is already very good.

    “Felipe and I both race for Ferrari. It is important that a red car wins. We’ll both give it our all to improve our performance, we’ll both give 100%. I’ve always had strong teammates and I never had any problems with then. I have a great relation to all of them and it won’t be different with Felipe.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  6. Felipe Massa has no concerns about going up against Fernando Alonso at Ferrari this season, despite the high expectations surrounding his Spanish team-mate.

    Alonso has joined Ferrari with his sights firmly set on bringing the world championship back to Maranello.

    And although most of the pre-season focus has been on Alonso, Massa insists he is not worried about being left in the shadow of his team-mate – having experienced a similar situation alongside Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen over recent years.

    “The expectations as far as my team-mate is concerned I’ve been living with for many years now,” he said at the launch of the new car in Maranello on Thursday. “When there’s a new driver at Ferrari, there are great expectations and the goal is to work well as a team, to be complete.

    “I’ll have a very strong team-mate. I’ve always done good work, learned a lot, shown many times that I’m able to win and fight, whoever my team-mate was. Michael is a friend and I learned a lot from him, but on the track we’ll be competitors. Although we’ll have a good relationship, as always. I’m happy that he’s cheering for me.”

    Massa also believes that work to improve safety still needs to continue, even though he survived an horrific accident during qualifying for last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

    “I had a really unbelievable accident,” he said. “But naturally safety is something we’re working on every single day. We have to continue like this and there will be much more work to do also amongst us drivers and on the tracks to improve.

    “On a personal level I’m happy that with everything that happened nothing has changed in my work.”

    Source: Autosport.com

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