MARANELLO, Italy — Hopes for another championship are high at Ferrari, which unveiled its 2010 racing car, the F10, on Thursday.
Sadly, snow and ice in Maranello meant Felipe Massa didn't get to take it out for a turn on the track, where Scuderia Ferrari had planned to shoot some promotional video. Instead, Ferrari said Friday that Massa will wait 72 hours and take the F10 out on the Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia, Spain, on Monday.
Development of the new car began early last year, when the company — the only brand to compete in F1 every year since the modern series' inception in 1950 — essentially abandoned hope to make the 2009 car competitive after its designers missed the mark in adapting to rules changes.
Teams that adopted a double diffuser proved to hit the sweet spot of the new technical format.
"It revolutionized and changed the design of the cars," technical director Aldo Costa said of the double diffuser, "and we had to start it from zero, from scratch."
Ferrari never quite caught up, although Kimi Raikkonen did score one victory for the team.
Ferrari was not the only team caught out. McLaren and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton were equally outclassed in the beginning, as the new Brawn GP team — formerly Honda, and now branded by its new owner as Mercedes Grand Prix — and surprising Red Bull rose to the top of the hierarchy.
The new car "is substantially different from the previous cars," Costa said.
Acknowledging the rapid-fire technological development of the sport, Ferrari is already engaged in tweaking the new car and has an itinerary for modifications to be made as the season progresses.
"We are very much satisfied with the work we have done," said Chief Designer Nikolas Tombazis, "although we are very aware of the fact that we will see on track if we have worked enough."
Inside Line says: Optimism among the tifosi is enhanced by the drivers who will be wheeling the new F10 — two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who lost the 2008 championship by a single point to Lewis Hamilton.
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