The F2012 features a number of wholesale technical departures compared to last year’s disappointing challenger, notably pull-rod front and rear suspensions along with fundamental changes towards the rear of the car.

Although the team’s recent cars have proved disappointing, Ferrari has nonetheless often been consistently at the sharp end of the winter testing timesheets with its cars invariably proving reliable out of the box.

On Monday at Jerez Felipe Massa, carrying out the programme for the first two days of the test, completed 69 laps in a best time that was over two seconds off the initial pace set by Kimi Raikkonen in the new Lotus. But Nikolas Tombazis, Ferrari’s chief designer, said that with the new car featuring a number of new concepts the team will be more than ever focusing on data gathering and experimenting with different set-up solutions initially to establish a way forward for development.

“This car represents a clear break with the one that preceded it and it features concepts that are very different for us and that require much more fine tuning,” he said. “That’s why today we absolutely did not have an eye on the stopwatch, preferring to concentrate on gathering as much data as possible in order to get as good an understanding as possible of the behaviour of the car. We have much to do, but all in all, there are reasons to be pleased with the three hundred kilometres that we put together with Felipe at the wheel.

“We had to experiment with different solutions and that will be the case for the next few days as well: it’s obvious that some delivered what was expected while others did not, but that’s the purpose of testing, getting to understand how a car behaves and how best to develop it.”

He also said, that whatever the ultimate performance of the F2012 once the season gets underway, Ferrari certainly couldn’t again be accused of being too conservative with the design of its new car.

“We decided that the only way to make a step forward was to be much more aggressive in our approach to the design of the car,” Tombazis added. “It’s true that the arrival of Pat [Fry] in the role of Technical Director made a significant contribution to this change, but it was a direction our group had already initiated. It is obviously too early to say if this year we will be able to win or not, but no one will be able to accuse us of having been timid in the design of this car.”

The Genii Capital-owned outfit revealed the E20 – the ‘E’ in reference to Enstone, the team’s home of 20 years – on the internet but, rather than a live stream, released a novel pre-recorded broadcast from its factory which included the car’s unveil, interviews with drivers and management, along with behind-the-scenes footage.

The black and gold-liveried challenger features the in-vogue stepped nose, but is less dramatic than the one on the new Ferrari that caused a stir on Friday with a more attractive curved slope. The E20 is certainly sleek around the sidepods and rear, with the exhaust exits, as is mandated, considerably higher and further back on the car than last year when Renault pioneered the complex forward-exhaust concept which proved troublesome.

Having been able to finally draw a line under the team’s largely successful decade-long Renault era and rebrand as Lotus for this season, the team is looking to deliver more consistent results in wake of a 2011 campaign that started promisingly but ended up with the team just clinging on to fifth place in the constructors’ championship ahead of Force India.

Team owner Gerard Lopez said: “I think the hopes are to be able to get one season together in the way that we were already expecting last year. That is to have a strong car, strong drivers –of which of them is obviously an ex-world champion – and to bring the car up to the front of the pack, probably trying to aim for fourth as a reasonable goal for this season.”

The world champion Lopez referred to is of course Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 title winner returning to F1 this year after two campaigns spent largely in the World Rally Championship. Although Michael Schumacher famously struggled to get back up to speed after three years away, Raikkonen is characteristically downplaying the challenges presented by his own re-acclimatisation process.

Asked if he was nervous about his return in wake of the difficulties Schumacher faced in 2010, the Finn, who will partner France’s Romain Grosjean, replied: “Not really. It will be something slightly different than it used to be when I was in Formula 1 with a different team, little bit different regulations.

“But everyone’s different. Some people have more difficulties to get used to the new stuff, and it depends a lot on the car also. If you have a good car it makes your life a lot easier than if you have an average car. So I was pretty happy after the first test we did a few weeks ago and it felt pretty normal already. But before the first race it’s pretty difficult to say still. So we wait and see but I’m happy so far with the way things are going.”

Although the team’s plans to run an innovative braking stabilising system on the car were kyboshed by the FIA last month, and on the outside the attractive E20 doesn’t appear overly radical, team boss Eric Boullier has promised the car has some additional secrets. “It’s true that the team’s reputation is good in terms of innovation and we’ve brought through the last years some nice ones. But definitely we have some this year,” he said, before adding: “[My] biggest hope is to make sure this team is back at the front of the grid for many years and a long time.”

Lopez, meanwhile, additionally confirmed the arrival of two new sponsors from the male grooming product world in Rexona and Clear for 2012, while expressing his relief that the team can now clearly move forward as Lotus following the end of the naming row with Tony Fernandes. “We’re also extremely proud that the Lotus name is a clear concept for everyone in Formula 1 now,” he said.

Although the Group Lotus car company is currently the team’s main sponsor, there have been suggestions that Lopez’s Genii investment firm has been looking at raising funds to buy the Proton-owned business.

The Tony Fernandes-owned team says the 26-year-old, who last year finished fifth in the GP2 Series, will make his debut for the squad in the forthcoming pre-season tests and then, like his predecessors in the role Fairuz Fauzy and Karun Chandhok, will “take part in a number” of Friday morning practice sessions during the course of the season.

Fernandes believes the former Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion is a “very exciting prospect” and his signing represents a significant coup for Caterham.

“We are delighted to welcome Giedo into the family as reserve driver. He is a very exciting prospect that we have been monitoring since the early days of our team, and we are all looking forward to seeing how he can help us develop throughout the season as we take our next steps towards the established midfield teams ahead,” the Malaysian team boss said.

“His performances in GP2, particularly in 2011, mark Giedo out as one of motorsport’s brightest prospects, and securing him as Reserve Driver is a real coup for our team. I am sure he will flourish on and off track, and we wish him all the best as he takes the next step into Formula 1 with us.”

Whenever van der Garde competes in a practice session for the first time, he will become the first Dutch driver to feature in a grand prix weekend since Christijan Albers last raced for Spyker in 2007.

Van der Garde feels he is joining a team on the up and is proud to be able to put the Netherlands – whose colourful fans famously provided a loyal following for ex-Benetton and Arrows racer Jos Verstappen in the 1990s and early 2000s – back on the F1 map.

“I’m very happy to become a part of the Caterham F1 Team family today and I’m very excited about the next step in my career within Formula 1. The team is fresh, with some fantastic people here. Tony Fernandes is extremely ambitious and he has brought in a lot of very good people in to help grow this team for future success. I’m looking forward to learning and moving forward with the team, in and out of the car” he said.

“It’s great for Holland that we again have a Dutch driver who is connected to Formula 1. Being the only Dutch driver now is very good for the sport in Holland, as the interest was perhaps on the decline since the Verstappen years, however I hope to generate the same excitement for my country and really bring Formula 1 to them.

“I feel that the team as a whole is very ambitious. They appear to be very positive people and I think they are building up, growing and developing very quickly. I think this year they will be strong contenders! We’ll see after the test but I really have a feeling that it’s a big family here and they are pushing very hard to move up the grid.”

Van der Garde last drove an F1 car when he appeared for Renault at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya in November 2008, the majority of his testing experiences having come the previous year when he appeared for both Super Aguri and Spyker,

It was his switch between the then two back-of-the-grid rivals that provoked controversy at the time as Super Aguri claimed it had already signed the Dutchman to a test and reserve role itself.

The specialist pre-season training camp, in sunnier climes to the traditional northern European winter, has long been a staple of many teams’ preparations ahead of a new season, giving them the chance to put their drivers through some rigorous exercises as well as providing an opportunity for team building.

Ferrari have chosen the Canary island for their training camp in recent days, with race drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa being joined in the activities by Academy drivers Jules Bianchi – who last week was confirmed as Force India’s reserve driver for 2012 – and Italian GP2 runner Davide Rigon.

The Maranello outfit say activities have included mountain biking, football, tennis and canoeing, along with more general work outs in the gym and on the beach.

But having enjoyed temperatures of 20+ degrees in Lanzarote, Alonso and Massa are set for something of a culture shock on their return to Italy ahead of Friday’s launch at Fiorano with the Maranello area currently suffering from freezing conditions with a high likelihood of snow for the forthcoming days.

Ferrari admit the forecast for poor weather could scupper plans to run the 2012 car for the first time at their test track for filming purposes before their transporters set off for the first test at Jerez in southern Spain.

The inaugural run could therefore be delayed until the opening day of testing next Tuesday, when Ferrari have confirmed Massa will get the honour of driving the car first in an official session.

From the outside this could seem like a trivial task given the months of design and development work that go into a Formula 1 car’s conception, but Caterham explained why the maiden fire-up of the Renault Sport engine in the new chassis was an important moment.

“Firing up the engine for the first time is a key part of the new car build process, as it allows the team to check that all the systems are working as they should, and to take a look at the basic architecture of all the mechanical and electronic items that are usually covered by the bodywork,” the team said.

The Norfolk-based outfit said the fire-up process had gone to plan and has made available an audio file of the moment the CT01 came to life for the first time for fans to listen to, with pictures of the process also on its Flickr site here.

Friday’s fire-up marked the end of a big week for the team; the CT01 is the first car to run under the Caterham name following the end of its two-year Lotus era and the one with which team owner Tony Fernandes is eyeing a first points finish.

Caterham F1’s chief technical officer, Mike Gascoyne, has been pleased with the work completed over the winter and explained that recent additional time in Williams’ wind tunnel had provided a boost in its bid to improve the car’s aerodynamic performance.

“The car build has gone very smoothly. The car will be completely ready for the first test in Jerez on February 7th,” he said.

“In terms of aerodynamic development, we’ve continued our programme in Italy but have augmented that with a development programme in the Williams wind tunnel, which has significantly increased our resources. All of that means I think we’ll be able to have a better and more competitive car, and we look forward to getting it out, testing it, and proving what the numbers are telling us.”

A day on from issuing a teaser shot of the new CT01, the outfit formerly known as Lotus on Thursday officially became the first Formula 1 team to unveil a 2012 challenger via the front cover of F1 Racing magazine and on its own website.

Steady improvement has characterised the squad’s first two seasons in the sport but technical stability under Mike Gascoyne’s leadership appears to have allowed the design team to take a more aggressive approach for 2012. While the car’s platypus-style nose has unsurprisingly received most attention so far, the sculpted sidepods and some of the intricate detail on the front wing point to aerodynamic progress.

“This car represents another step forward for us,” Fernandes told Caterham F1’s official website. “The detail right across the whole package is light years ahead of where we were when we first started out, and we are all excited about seeing what it can do when we get on track.”

He added: “For me this is a new year, a new start as Caterham, and the next chapter in our story. This is the first time our whole design team has really been able to get its teeth into creating our own product and I know it will be a progression from the T128, technically and in terms of its performance.”

Caterham pulled comprehensively clear of Marussia and HRT last season and increasingly began to trouble the lower end of the midfield in race conditions. Fernandes reckons the fact it now has access to Red Bull’s KERS for the first time will prove a key additional weapon in its armoury.

“Target wise, I have been quoted as saying I want us to score a point this year and that really has to be the aim. It has to be,” he admitted. “Towards the end of last year we were so close to the midfield cars, but our lack of KERS limited our capabilities. This year, however, with the people and facilities we have in the factory and the wind tunnel, and with KERS, I am confident that we will become a danger to many of the midfield teams, and yes, I want us to achieve a point somewhere in 2012 – maybe two if we are very lucky!”

Liuzzi has raced for team principal Colin Kolles before and although his record in F1 is rather mixed, he undoubtedly has speed and an ability to get results. It’s just stringing results together consistently that he’s not managed to do in F1.

He has started 63 Grands Prix with three different teams; Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India, with whom he drove last season. Although he had a contract for 2011 he was eased out in favour of Paul di Resta.

His best result is a pair of sixth places, including last year in Korea, which was his strongest performance of the year. Ironically Kartikeyan has had a better result – a 4th place – but it was achieved in the notorious six car US Grand Prix of 2005 in Indianapolis.

“I have known Tonio for many years as he raced with me in lower categories,” said Kolles. “He is a very professional driver who will bring a lot of benefits to the Team. I am convinced about his skills to develop a car and his speed. He has shown this in the past having contributed to a large extend developing and moving a back grid car to the front.”

Hispania has yet to unveil its new car, that will happen on Friday lunchtime in Barcelona, meaning that the team has just a day and a half of testing at the most before shipping it to Melbourne for the first race. This is a little better than last year when the car ran for the first time during the opening weekend and one of the HRTs only ran for qualifying.

As i posted last year in Bahrain, there are many pitfalls to racing an untested car. One thing which will help them this year is the Williams gearbox and back end, which they have purchased and which is integrated with the Cosworth. This should boost performance and reliability. Another headache is the return of the 107% qualifying rule this year, which will mean that the HRT cars will have to be within around 5.8 seconds of the pole sitter to qualify.

Here’s a reminder of the first steps the team will take.

Cooling is the first thing to check. A car which overheats will not get far. However the general rule in F1 is that a car which cools really well is a slow car. Designers want to shrink wrap the bodywork over the car to get the best aerodynamics, so in a really quick car, the bodywork is often no more than 5mm away from the radiators.

Water temperatures typically run to 140 degrees, which is possible because the system is pressurized, while oil temperatures of 115 degrees are acceptable. If the oil gets any hotter than that it loses its lubricating properties and causes damage.

After the cooling has been verified, the engineers will begin the difficult process of learning about the tyres. Compared to last year they have the advantage of having tested the Pirellis on their old car, so the engineers will have a sense of the dynamics. Nevertheless, it will take HRT several Grand Prix weekends to learn how to set the car up, to get the load evenly balanced across all four tyres and get the correct balance between aero and tyre temperatures.

There aren’t too many short cuts here and even very experienced teams can get it wrong. This is a problem Brawn engineered into their car in the second half of the 2009 season, for example.

There’s no doubt that a big part of the background to this is a response from Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone to the formation of FOTA and its recent announcement of a ‘road map’ for F1. Mosley and Ecclestone do not want the teams deciding the rules or the share of commercial revenues and they are reminding them who’s boss. The £30 million budget cap is designed to repel calls for teams to receive a greater share of the revenues. It means that all the teams would be fully funded just from the share of money Bernie currently gives them, the ruse would be to pay high earners, like drivers, with a dividend from the massive profits the teams would be generating.

In the Gazzetta dello Sport, veteran writer Pino Allievi is highly critical of the budget cap, comparing it to a football league where the relegation zone teams are allowed to field 12 players against the 11 of the top teams.

“Behind this blow is the reborn alliance of Ecclestone-Mosley which faces the team’s association. It’s the beginning of a new war, whose consequences in such a fragile economy, could be devastating. Because there are a couple of big teams who have had enough of these power games and are thinking of leaving.”

Ed Gorman in the Times looks at the political iron fist behind the move and also sees the alliance of Mosley and Ecclestone as being in robust shape, in the face of the teams’ association,
“Mosley has a history of wielding a big stick to frighten the horses only to compromise and adjust his ideas through subsequent negotiation. If that is the case this time, expect to see a series of amendments to a remarkably pure concept and the budget limit figure to increase. However, there was no mistaking the mood of those close to Mosley yesterday – they genuinely believe that they have come up with the answer to Formula One’s long-term health problems. The reaction of Fota was viewed as weak by Mosley’s coterie and there can be little doubt that the FIA president and Ecclestone regard this initiative as firmly putting the teams in their collective place. And, as one source put it: “The Max and Bernie show is rolling into action in vintage form.”

Although the teams are refusing to allow FOTA be split up over this, the budget cap idea has been cleverly formulated to drive a wedge between the teams, to appeal to the poorer teams, whose very survival is a concern. The feeling is that some of them may go for some form of budget cap. It is the manufacturer teams who have the dual struggle of fighting this plan and keeping FOTA together.

As for the points debate, veteran Maurice Hamilton, now installed at the Guardian as well as the Observer, is in favour of the winner takes all approach,
“So have the FIA made the right decision? My view is that there certainly is a lot to be said for recognising the driver with the greatest number of wins. After all, if you ask any team member why they are at the races, the answer will always be: “We’re here to win. What else is there?” Sir Stirling Moss, now 79 and in happy retirement, should have at least one championship to his name.”

The teams did likewise. They did not expect this after presenting such a unanimous front the other week in Geneva. Their confidence that their unified voice would be taken into account by the FIA, when deciding rules and policy, was misplaced. Instead Max Mosley has gone much further than the teams wanted to in stripping costs out of the sport. FOTA has just put a statement out which makes clear how annoyed they are with this move,

“With regard to the decisions taken today by the FIA World Council, FOTA would like to express its disappointment and concern at the fact that these have been taken in a unilateral manner, “ said FOTA president Luca di Montezemolo. “The framework of the regulations as defined by the FIA, to be applicable as from 2010, runs the risk of turning on its head the very essence of Formula 1 and the principles that make it one of the most popular and appealing sports.

“Given the timeframe and the way in which these modifications were decided upon, we feel it is necessary to study closely the new situation and to do everything, especially in these difficult times, to maintain a stable framework for the regulations without continuous upheaval, that can be perplexing and confusing for car manufacturers, teams, the public and sponsors.”

This has the potential to open up a dangerous rift between the Formula 1 teams and the FIA just as the new season starts. It is likely that Mosley has done this to get teams to accept the general idea that there will be a budget cap system in F1, much as he did with standard Electronic Control Units, engine freezes and so on.

He has to lead them kicking and screaming to things which then get accepted. A £30 million budget cap will never be accepted, but once the teams have gone over the hurdle of the cap, Mosley probably reckons they will meet somewhere in the middle on the numbers, so around £50-60 million, which let’s face it, should be enough to run an F1 team on. But the road ahead will be rocky and this is a real test of the mettle of FOTA as an organisation.

In Geneva I asked Montezemolo whether he thought Max would feel the FOTA proposals went far enough and he said that they would put them to him and have a dialogue. It’s fairly clear that there hasn’t been that much dialogue this time around, not like in December when the FOTA engine package was agreed by the FIA in the days following Honda’s shock withdrawal.

What’s behind this? Max wants to keep the smaller independent teams in the sport and encourage new ones to come in. He hates the idea that there are two empty franchises. But the budget cap puts manufacturer-backed teams like Ferrari, McLaren Mercedes and BMW in a difficult position. They are to be given the option of spending as much as they like, but the budget capped teams will get more technical freedom, more engine power and better aerodynamics, to make them competitive. The boards of the big car firms will never accept this and you’d have a two class F1, which never worked in the turbo/non-turbo days.

The eye catching Mosley quote is the one where he dismisses suggestions that the budget cap would be impossible to police,

“We went into all this very carefully some time ago,” he said. “We involved forensic accountants from Deloitte and Touche as well as financial experts from the current teams. The vast majority of payments are traceable and any benefits in kind can be valued. There were a number of meetings. It became clear we could do it. The problem was getting the current teams to agree a figure. Also, the majority wanted a lot of exclusions such as land and buildings, the team principal’s salary and the drivers. We would also need the right to carry out very intrusive audits and impose severe penalties for overspend. However these difficulties no longer arise because each team will now be able to choose whether or not to run under the cost cap.”

The other little gem is this one,
“We will make sure these advantages do no more than balance the disadvantages the cost-capped teams will have because of their very restricted budgets. As said, we will balance the median performances by adjusting the cost-capped cars should this prove necessary. The other cars will have stable technical regulations in return for which we understand FOTA intend to provide guarantees of continuing participation until 2012, underwritten by the major car manufacturers.”

Mosley has leapt on the guarantee given in Geneva by the manufacturers to stay in until 2012 and thereby cut their wriggle room on this. On top of that he’s saying that the FIA may adjust the equivalence between capped and non-capped teams’ performance, possibly even from race to race, which he knows is not F1, but it’s a strong position from which they will eventually have to agree something.

What makes this a particularly big play is the fact that these things have been voted through, so they aren’t proposals, they are now rules which will need to be ‘unmade’ once the negotiation has taken place.

Expect more from FOTA on this…

“Todt has been one of the fundamental protagonists of the Ferrari story in the last 15 years, ” said Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo. ” All these years together, the wins but also the difficult moments, have created a bond between Ferrari and Todt which will last for ever.”

Todt (63) arrived at Maranello in 1993 to revive the fortunes of a racing team which had lost its direction, its self respect and it’s ability to win races. It took him a while to turn the ship around, but by 1997, with the hiring of Michael Schumacher, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, they were fighting for the world title. Three years in a row they cam up short, although they did clinch the 1999 constructors crown and then in 2000 came the breakthrough as Schumacher won the first drivers’ title for the Scuderia since 1979. Four more followed in an era of dominance. Todt oversaw a total of 98 wins for Ferrari.

Todt was quite a devisive figure in F1, proving the oil to Ron Dennis’ water. In 2006 he became general manager of the whole of Ferrari, including road cars and he stepped down as team principal at the end of 2007 after seeing Kimi Raikkonen carry on where Schumacher left off.

Todt’s ‘win at all costs mentality’ aligned with Schumacher’s and this led to some of the most controversial moments in recent F1 history, the ultimate being the decision to switch Barrichello and Schumacher so that the latter could win the Austrian Grand Prix of 2002, a move which led to a huge fine for Ferrari and the banning of team orders in F1.