Ferrari F10 to Debut Bigger 'Shark Gills' in Malaysia

Following the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari's team principal Stefano Domenicali admitted that both cars had suffered from engine cooling problems during the aforementioned weekend, which was the main reason why the team decided to change the powerplants of both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa prior to the Sunday race.

During the Sunday action, Felipe Massa experienced some slight problems with his engine, which was later explained by Domenicali by a cooling issue. The Brazilian was asked to slow down his pace in the last few laps of the race at Sakhir International Circuit, avoiding an engine failure.

“The temperature of the engine is the result of the aerodynamics of the car, so we have to work on that in order to make sure that we don't have any more of these kinds of issues for the next hot races,” Domenicali admitted in a race review on Ferrari's official site.

In a preview of the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix, where the weather is usually hotter than in Bahrain – despite the rainy forecast for this weekend's race – Ferrari confirmed that their car will feature some aerodynamic changes “aimed at dealing with the unique characteristics of this event.”

According to the GMM news agency, the most visible update of the Ferrari F10 will be the engine cover, which will now feature a more drastic “shark gills” design. The gills were initially introduced on the car especially for the Bahrain race – as the aforementioned design was not fitted on the car during the winter testing – in order to cope with the high temperature.

Given that the ambient temperatures in Malaysia will certainly be higher, the change will presumably help the Ferrari engines cool more effective.