Visually, there aren't many differences between the newly-launched Ferrari F150 and the 2010-spec F10 - except for a higher nose and a more sculptured sidepods - but the real changes happened in terms of technology, as the new rules imposed by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) mean “the car is a proper cut compared to the previous one,” as revealed by Ferrari's technical director Aldo Costa.
“As far as the looks are concerned the rules keep them quite unaltered. The cars look like the ones from last year, but from a technical point of view they will be really different,” said Costa.
Costa also revealed that Ferrari had to begin the design of the new car from scratch, because of the FIA ban regarding the F-duct system and the double diffuser. Instead, the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) has returned, and brought an adjustable rear wing with it. Those were all elements for which the Ferrari engineers have dedicated a lot of time through the winter.
“The car’s evolution has been planned with two big stages: one during the winter tests, where we will mainly develop the area of the mechanics, which means that the car’s structure, the chassis, the gearbox and the suspension will remain the same for the first couple of races. The aerodynamics is simplified and temporary for the first tests, waiting for the real aerodynamic development for the first race,” further explained Costa.
Ferrari's president Luca di Montezemolo also attended the media event, and wanted to congratulate Fernando Alonso publicly for his wonderful campaign with the Prancing Horse last year. As far as Felipe Massa is concerned, di Montezemolo called him "our little child" and insisted that it was his brother who drove a Ferrari in these past couple of years, only now the true Massa is back.
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