It's time for the last mysteries: the new Ferrari of Formula 1 is about to lose its veil and there are many questions on the eve. How many, at least, are the hopes that the Reds will return this year to play top-level parts on the circuits. And given that a Ferrari driver (Kimi Raikkonen, for the records) hasn't won the world title since 2007; given that the Iride Costruttori has been absent from Maranello since the end of 2008, and also the weather has changed the script of the official presentation, scheduled for this morning in Maranello with the classic crowd of guests who instead will now see everything on the web, a few times as this year the climate of mystery was truly impenetrable.
The name first. Typical question: already in Enzo Ferrari's time the new F.1s were baptized with surprising names and acronyms. At one time, reasoning related to technique followed practice: 312 recalled the 12 cylinders of the engine and the 3 liters of its cubic capacity; the T introduced in 1975 meant the innovation of the gearbox in the transverse position. The Montezemolo era, two months ago at the 20th year of presidency, introduced other paths, including mental ones: honorifics such as the GA of 2003 in memory of Gianni Agnelli who recently passed away; most often linked to the reference year. This would seem to be the path chosen for this new red F.1, which it could/should be called F2012, or more simply F12. Certainly its project number is 663, and this variable has also contributed at times to seal the official name. A few more hours and we'll get rid of our curiosity.
To strip ourselves of the one relating to substance, however, we will have to wait for the first championship matches, because even pre-season test results are often interlocutors. And the substance is this: will this Ferrari be able to signify the break with the past that has been repeatedly touted in recent months as a necessary step to dig a furrow with the disappointing four-year period that has just ended? Disappointing not for ignorance: it is worth remembering that Alonso lost the 2010 title in the last race, and that two years earlier Massa was even world champion for a few seconds, before Hamilton snatched the title from him thanks to an overtaking at least talked about in the last 600 meters of that flooded Brazilian GP. But in short…
There is no need to venture into the technical analysis of a single-seater here. We can just remember that starting this year, Formula 1 changes its skin in terms of technical regulations: the famous exhausts that blow hot air inside the single-seater, in the lower area near the flat bottom, are no longer allowed (but in fact the limit will soon be circumvented, as per tradition), in order to increase the aerodynamic load. In technical slang: downforce, or the ability to anchor to the asphalt as speed increases, thus resisting the natural effect which, as kilometers per hour increases, would tend to impose the opposite effect. And given that this blow has been – it is said – the number 1 weapon of the dominating Red Bulls of the last two seasons, and that in the only race that saw this mechanism temporarily prohibited (Great Britain GP, last July) it was precisely the Ferrari of Alonso to triumph, here is hope served on a silver platter.
We certainly know that the 2012 Ferrari will be ugly (Christmas words from President Montezemolo) but aggressive. Meaning, with this, that if the Reds of the last two years have lacked a bit of courage in the technical choices - which in themselves must be innovative and therefore daring, if you want to go faster than the others -, the path followed this year has been the opposite. To cope with this, the staff of the team is revolutionized. Gone is former technical director Aldo Costa, who has now landed at Mercedes not too worried about his excessive prudence at the head of Ferrari. the project is now in the hands of the Greek Nikolas Tombazis, who has been in Maranello for years. Responsible for the chassis is Pat Fry, who is also the team strategist. Engine and Kers system for energy recovery are managed by the technical team led by Luca Marmorini. All this, it is rumored, would also benefit from the barely veiled collaboration of Rory Byrne: designer and last historical reminiscence of the glorious period of world titles conquered by Michael Schumacher between 2000 and 2004. Indeed, penultimate: Stefano Domenicali, now director of the Ferrari Sport Management, was also part of that victorious Ferrari.
A not too raised nose is expected of this Ferrari for the 2012 World Championship, as is the case on the McLaren presented on Wednesday in Great Britain and twice runner-up in the team championship in 2010 and 2011, just to remind you that the Reds won't have to play against only the Red Bulls this year. Expect narrow sides (the bellies, returning again to the slang of the pits). It is known that the choices relating to the suspension will be aimed at ensuring better use of the Pirelli tyres, where in 2011 Alonso and Massa had problems getting the stiffer compound tires to the optimum temperature, thus favoring their rivals (read Red Bull) who were quicker to find maximum performance once out of the pits. Well: end of the technical disquisitions. But as for the need to break with the past, we understood each other…
We will understand the rest on the Maranello web (www.ferrarif1.com) starting at 10.30 today, after the first test that the pilots were supposed to run almost live on the Fiorano circuit alongside the factories had already been canceled due to the aforementioned bad weather. The first real test is therefore expected on Tuesday 7 February on the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, in Spain, a stone's throw from the Pillars of Hercules. There will be no snow there. And the new Ferrari cannot fail to offer the first answers.
