Ferrari laments new car’s ugly nose
LONDON - Reuters
The new Ferrari Formula One F2012 car is seen in this official handout image from the Ferrari Press Office. Ferrari unveiled the car via the Internet on Feb 3, 2012.
Ferrari has blamed Formula One’s 2012 regulations for making the nose of their new car “not aesthetically pleasing” while also revealing that the front wing of the F2012 will evolve in the coming months.The car, codenamed 663 within the Maranello factory of the sport’s oldest team, includes several radical changes as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa look to regain Ferrari’s glory days after four years of disappointment.
The new rules state that cars this season must alter the height of the front section of the chassis, the position of the exhaust pipes and the mapping for the electronic engine management.
Changes to the nose have especially upset the glamour team, who have always wanted to look good on and off the track.
“The nose has a step in it that is not aesthetically pleasing: with the requirement from the regulations to lower the front part, this was a way of raising the bottom part of the chassis as much as possible for aerodynamic reasons,” a team statement said on Feb. 3 as this season’s car was unveiled on the internet.
Snow forced the Italian team to cancel a live launch to which some 300 people had been invited.
The 58th F1 single-seater built by Ferrari also has a new suspension with the front wing still to be fully developed.
The sides have a new look with the radiators in a different place while the lower part of the back of the car is narrower thanks partly to a new gearbox casing.
The front and rear air intakes for the brakes have been changed while the engine is little changed from last year’s car given the technical regulations. The kinetic energy recovery system has kept its low central location but has also been redesigned.
Ferrari said much would still change during the year.
