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.”

At the launch of the team’s F2012 on Friday its management and drivers put emphasis on the deliberately more aggressive approach the squad has taken in the conception process for this year’s car, after being accused of lacking innovation in recent years. The car duly the most striking stepped nose of the 2012 challenger’s released to date, while the team has broken with recent design convention by reintroducing a pull-rod front suspension.

The famous Maranello marque’s unequalled F1 pedigree – the team has won a record 16 constructors’ and 15 drivers’ titles – means second in the pecking order, let alone a distant third as was the case last season, is considered to be an underachievement. Indeed, Tombazis doesn’t try to hide the fact that the pressure is really now on.

“As chief designer of the Scuderia, I do feel even more pressure than normal this year because we are really all very keen and very eager to get back to being competitive and hopefully winning again,” he said in a video interview for the team’s website.

“That pressure I believe is felt by everyone – from the very upper levels of the company, to the lower level, almost by the whole company. This pressure is very tangible and it’s something that we’re all working to hopefully get a good result and manage to relieve some of that pressure.”

The F2012 is the first car to be delivered by the team’s revamped technical team, which is now led by Pat Fry following the departure of Aldo Costa last year. The restructuring process has continued apace with the recent arrivals of Steve Clark from Mercedes and ex-Bridgestone chief Hirohide Hamashima – additions Fry expects to be important ones.

“Steve Clark’s joined us who takes over the head of race engineering, which is a good help for me and means I can concentrate more on the car programme as a whole. We have Hamashima starting with us,” he said. “There’s a wealth of experience between Steve and Hamashima which we hopefully can share with our current knowledge and build and get a better understanding of how to maximise the performance of the tyres.”

Fry also revealed that Ferrari was aiming to “get our average pit stops down by maybe four tenths [of a second], if we’re lucky, five tenths” this season after being the third quickest in the field last season.

Ferrari, arguably F1′s most stylish brand, has today unveiled the F2012. It’s a car whose nose is aesthetically challenged, but if it’s fast, no-one at Maranello will care about that. And it needs to be fast, because this needs to be the year Ferrari gets back into the winners’ circle on a regular basis.

The nose is a significant talking point for aesthetic reasons, but the pull rod front suspension is a talking point from an engineering stand point. It’s not been done for a while and it shows the current Ferrari technical management are not averse to taking risks.

“I’m sure that this season I can say it will be a red season.” This was the confident prediction of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo as the Italian team pulled the wraps off the radical-looking car that it hopes will take it back to world championship-winning ways in 2012.

The Formula 1 world had long been expecting Ferrari to ‘go aggressive’ with the design of their new car in wake of two seasons largely playing third fiddle to Red Bull and McLaren and so it was little surprise that the new challenger unveiled at Maranello on Friday, titled the F2012, was more outwardly different to its predecessor than was the case with the latest McLaren earlier this week.

With severe snow and ice in the area having forced the team to abandon plans to do the unveiling event at their Fiorano test track, and instead run a purely online ceremony via their website, team principal Stefano Domenicali joined race drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa on stage for the reveal of the car on stage before a recorded message from president Luca di Montezemolo was played in.

Montezemolo had already previously been quoted as describing the F2012 as “ugly” and the car duly features a new-style stepped nose – first seen on the Caterham CT01 last week but which didn’t feature on the more conventional-looking McLaren. Ferrari’s interpretation of the new nose-height regulations appears the most aggressive yet though with the angle down to the nose particularly sharp and then flattening out dramatically. The rear of the car is far sleeker though, with tighter sidepods and tightly-packaged rear bodywork as Ferrari attempt to claw downforce back lost through the banning of blown diffusers.

The design programme has been led by new technical director Pat Fry and much is expected of the new car. After being criticised for being too cautious with designs in recent years, Domenicali admitted that they had ”learned” from the past and developed a new car that features “plenty of novelties and new developments”.The radical design appeared to impress both race drivers, with Massa expressing delight at its ”very aggressive” appearance, while effective number one driver Alonso hopes it will give him the basis from which he can finally win his third world title. “It looks very different actually from what we’ve seen in the last two years,” he said. “I believe in the skills we have here at Ferrari, we always have to be optimistic. We have to fight for this title and get as many points in every race.”

For Massa, meanwhile, although it may only be the start of February, it was made clear that there would be no hiding place for him this season – the final one of his Ferrari contract. The vultures have been circling the 30-year-old for some time in the wake of two largely lacklustre seasons alongside Alonso, and at the launch di Montezemolo sent out a clear message to the long-serving driver: “Massa has to do something great, and something special, after a non-positive season. We are offering him the best conditions to do a great job.”

The Brazilian hasn’t won a race since melodramatic season finale of 2008 in Brazil when he came within about 30 seconds of being champion. In wake of what’s come since for Massa – including the Hungarian GP accident on 2009 when he suffered a fractured skull – his days as a serious title challenger seem a long time ago now, but for 2012 he’s feeling positive about making a return to the winners’ circle.

“I’d like to say this is going to be quite an important year for me and the whole team as well,” Massa said. “We want to fight to get the championship back and I really believe in my skills, this team and this car. I really feel focused on winning – there are plenty of positive thoughts in my head. I want to start the championship in the right way and finish in the right way.”

Domenicali had begun his speech by announcing that major sponsor Santander had extended its agreement with the team for a further three years up until 2017. The Spanish bank came on board in 2010 at the same time as the arrival of Alonso, who last year committed his future to the team until 2016.

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.

The 22 year old Frenchman will have the opportunity to drive on at least nine Grand Prix weekends in the Friday morning practice session.

He will join a small but growing number of young drivers getting some regular track time on Fridays, including Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Lotus’ Jerome D’Ambrosio. Caterham are likely to have someone in that role and Marussia has also made use of the Friday morning opportunity too.

It’s the right move for Bianchi, as there were no opportunities with the current testing restrictions to get seat time at Ferrari, where the Frenchman, a protege of Nicolas Todt, has been reserve driver. With two disappointing campaigns behind him in GP2, and no F1 race seat arising from that, Todt needed to keep his boy’s career moving forward and this answers that need.

Force India have made excellent use of the Friday slot in the last two years, blooding Paul di Resta in 2010 ahead of a race debut in 2011 and assessing Nico Hulkenberg last season, which led to a race seat this year. They have a proven track record at it.

These two stories prove the value of the Friday driver opportunity. After all, going further back, both Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel started their F1 careers as Friday drivers.

On the face of it there’s no reason for Force India’s race driver line up to change again for a few years with two hungry, capable drivers. But both could be candidates for a Mercedes seat if Michael Schumacher retires at the end of 2012 and Force India can measure Bianchi against the race drivers, giving them an option. It also makes him more attractive to other F1 teams if they find themselves looking for a “ready to go” driver, as happens sometimes.

“I’m obviously excited to join Sahara Force India and the chance to get track time during race weekends is an important step for me,” said Bianchi. “Being regularly in a current car is the best way to learn quickly and I hope it will put me in a strong position to one day move into a race seat. The next few months will be really exciting as I get to know the team, see how they work, and prepare for my time in the car. I would like to thank everyone for believing in me and especially Sahara Force India for giving me this great opportunity.”

Importantly, Bianchi will remain part of the Ferrari Driver Academy programme, along with Sauber’s Sergio Perez. Meanwhile Ferrari is leaning more heavily on Davide Rigon as a result of Bianchi’s move to Force India.

Davide Rigon (Ferrari)

“As for Davide Rigon, he has recently extended his relationship with the Scuderia: the driver from Venice will be on call for the team for all racing and promotional activities also for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.”

The car has been described as “ugly” by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and it’s certainly a new departure from the DNA of Ferraris of recent years, but all there are agreed that if it’s fast enough, it will certainly be beautiful!

Among the indiscretions Piola has published in Gazzetta dello Sport today are that the suspension is a pull-rod system, the first on a Ferrari for 11 years. This is what Red Bull has been using since 2009 and many others have followed.

It works well with a lower nose and allows a lower centre of gravity on the car. At the rear it allows the back to sit low, clearly part of Ferrari’s strategy for coping with the loss of the blown diffusers.

The new rules, lowering the nose on the cars, means that the nose droops down.

The drivers are more reclined in the new Ferrari. The sidepods are very narrow and the crash structures to protect the driver are in two wing like shapes in front of the leading edge of the sidepods, above the radiator inlet line. In addition to meeting the crash requirements, they will clearly have an aerodynamic function.

All the teams are working on innovative sidepod ideas to try to get the best possible airflow to the rear of the car to make up for the lost downforce from the banning of the blown diffusers. Sidepods offer quite a bit of freedom to the designers.

According to Piola the front and rear wings at the launch will be old specification, not the 2012 ones.

The exhaust outlets will be at the lower end of the range specified in the new rules, blowing across the bottom profile of the rear wing. But there is a development plan, apparently, to move to what McLaren and Red Bull is believed to be doing, which is to exit the exhausts high up, to blow across the top profile.

The car, under the guidance of technical director and former McLaren designer Pat Fry, is the work of Nikolas Tombazis, with legendary Ferrari designer Rory Byrne a significant contributor in the background. It’s believed that Byrne is behind the innovation on the protective structures in the form of a wing in front of the sidepods.

Last year there was a lot of imagery around the launch of the pride of Italy, celebrating its 150th Anniversary.

Although the political tone might be lower this year, the team and particularly Montezemolo, will be well aware that Italy needs something to be proud of at this difficult time, with the economy in crisis and the recent sinking of one of its cruise ships another embarrassing episode for the country.

Two lacklustre campaigns have left the Brazilian vulnerable and both Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and team boss Stefano Domenicali have spelled out that he is fighting to save his job.

Interestingly, the Ferrari website presents a stark picture in its story on Massa’s appearance in Madonna and puts Massa’s position in these terms,
“Felipe Massa’s future depends on what happens now. At the end of 2012, the contract between the Brazilian and Scuderia Ferrari will come to an end, but the pressure that might build with this expiry date does not seem to have unsettled Felipe.”

Massa himself is realistic enough to know that he faces a decisive year. He’s less able to drive around problems in the car than team mate Fernando Alonso and suffered more from the Ferrari’s handling problems on the harder Pirelli tyres last year.

“If we have a good car then I know I can fight for the title, as I have already done in the past,” he said. “Since 2008, nothing has changed: after my accident, I am still the same.”

“I am well aware that in some ways, the first part of the season will be more important than the second,” he added. “When we reach the mid-point of the season, we will talk about my future and see what are the chances of continuing to work with Ferrari: The most important thing is the results: if they are good, making decisions about the future will be much easier and there would be no point in changing a situation that everyone was happy with.”

Photo: Ferrari

The absence of a strong alternative candidate plays a part in keeping him there and it will be very interesting to monitor his progress this year and Ferrari’s positioning around alternatives. With the team having given indications that they’d like to get Sebastian Vettel as a long term leader post-Alonso, once Vettel’s contract expires with Red Bull in 2014, the team may be looking for the right person to bridge that gap.

However Alonso indicated today that he plans to keep racing for many years to come,
“I’ve still got many years to come,” he said today. “I’m 30 years old and there are guys racing at 42 or 43, so I guess every year I will improve a little bit.

“Maybe as you get older you lose some speed, but you gain experience so it compensates.”

Massa says that the new Ferrari car is a completely different design concept and finds reason for optimism in both the move to softer Pirelli tyres and the arrival of ultra experienced tyre engineer Hirohide Hamashima from Bridgestone.

Ferrari are certainly giving Massa every chance to come good, but his team mate Fernando Alonso is now in his prime, as he showed last year with some amazing results in an underperforming Ferrari car.

Massa has been in F1 for ten years, six of them with Ferrari. Will there be a seventh?

I went last year, but this year had to decline, as I have to be at the Autosports International Show in Birmingham tomorrow for the BBC.

Today saw conferences from team boss Stefano Domenicali and a brief appearance by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.

Montezemolo has been quite vocal over the winter about many things and today reiterated that Ferrari is ready to play its part in shaping the future of F1 despite withdrawing from the F1 Teams Association,

“We want to play, in a constructive way, a role to look ahead in F1,” he said. “I think F1 is fantastic, it is our life. This year we have celebrated 60 years, so I think we are allowed to push in a constructive way to look ahead.

“We have to look ahead in terms of technology, we have to look ahead in terms of young public, in terms of transfer of technology to the road cars because we don’t do satellites or aeroplanes.”

Domenicali said several important things. First he denied that Ferrari had done any kind of special deal with Bernie Ecclestone nor that one had been offered by the 81 year old billionaire. When Ferrari and Red Bull quit FOTA in December there were suggestions that they would succumb to a large financial package to sign up to a new Concorde Agreement, but Domenicali said no,

“In the next few months we are going to start talking about the renewal of the Concorde Agreement,” he said. “We do not have other offers around. We have not seen any offers, and no proposals have come, so in the forthcoming days we are going to start talking to see if we can meet around the table and discuss the future of F1.

Domenicali said that Ferrari has been in discussions with the other three top teams, Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren, about resolving problems over the Resource Restriction Agreement, the subject which split FOTA. More meetings are scheduled for next week as the teams prepare to negotiate a new Concorde Agreement, to replace the one which expires on December 31st this year,

“Clearly this is a very important year and we are all aware of that,” he said. “It is equally clear that there is only one offer on the table, given that no alternative solutions were ever established. In the coming months, talks will get underway on the future of the Agreement as we are still in discussion, especially with the bigger teams, despite the fact we have left FOTA, on the subject of cost reduction, discussions where Ferrari has always been at the forefront.

“Furthermore, one must bear in mind that the Resource Restriction Agreement is still in force: what still needs to be established – and this something we are looking at in these days – is if we should abide by the first version, signed in 2009, or the one drawn up in Singapore in 2010. The first one envisages very severe spending cuts for 2012, the year it should run out, while the one signed in Singapore has a revised figure and is valid right up to the end of 2017.

“The key point is to understand if this is an important tool for the future,” he added. “What should happen to those who do not abide by the rules: today, only a financial type of penalty is planned, but we need to decide if it would not be better to think also of something on the sporting front and, in that case, who should decide the outcome.”

In other Ferrari news, the team has hired highly experienced operations engineer Steve Clark, formerly of Mercedes, as head of race engineers. They’ve also hired Hirohide Hamashima, one of the faces of Bridgestone Motorsport. “He will head up a new project focusing on an in-depth assessment of an area crucial to performance, which is the interaction between the car and its tyres and he will also be our technical link to Pirelli,” said Domenicali.

Hamashima is well known and trusted by Ferrari, the Scuderia had a very tight relationship with Bridgestone in the mid-2000s, the dominant years for the team.

One of Ferrari’s weaknesses since those days has been the way it struggles to make best use of use the harder compound tyres when it has to set the car up at races to operate on two compounds, as it does under current F1 rules. It has taken them some time to find a solution for this and Hamashima is the most experienced person imaginable for this job, although he doesn’t have knowledge of Pirelli compounds, he does know many of the Pirelli engineers very well as they are largely ex-Bridgestone people.

It was also revealed that the new Ferrari will be launched on February 3, a few days ahead of the first test at Jerez. It will be shaken down that same day at Fiorano.

The $10 million question is, will it be fast enough? Ferrari admitted it was guilty of being too conservative in recent years and it’s clear that they’ve taken a step in a new direction for 2012,

“It’s (the 2012 car) definitely different, because it represents a clear break with the past in terms of the design philosophy,” said Domenicali. “It’s not that pretty, because the shape defined by the technical regulations does not leave much scope, but, and this is what counts really, our hopes are that it is at the very least quick! I asked our engineers, as far back as last summer to look into every little nook and cranny of the rules to push it to the limit, but up until we see the other cars we will not know if we have taken it to the limit or are within it.”

On Thursday, the drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will speak. Massa is under pressure from the management after two lacklustre seasons, “We need to be realistic, this is a crucial season for him and his future,” said Domenicali.

But less widely reported were his comments about world champion Sebastian Vettel and Bernie Ecclestone, which could have more far reaching consequences.

There have been various stories this year speculating about Ferrari’s interest in Vettel, but Gazzetta dello Sport’s Pino Allievi – normally a reliable guide to the goings on in the corridors of Maranello – suggests that there has been a change of feeling and that the desire to get him there in 2014 – to work alongside Alonso and take over from him – is now real and strong.

The formula the team built around Michael Schumacher was unbeatable and Ferrari is trying to replicate that now with Schumacher’s natural heir, Alonso.

The natural heir to Alonso is undoubtedly Vettel. The three drivers share a number of qualities of which intelligence and winning spirit are the two most significant.

“Vettel is a brilliant driver,” said Montezemolo. “He’s young, but seems very intelligent in the way he carries himself. He has a great future..let’s see. I like drivers who use their head more than their right foot.

“But it would be on condition that we don’t upset the balance in the team. Today we have a balance, I don’t want drivers who’ll have a problem with each other.”

Also to be carefully noted were Montezemolo’s comments about F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone, which are a signal that after several years of making tough, critical statements about the 81 year old supremo, there has been a genuine thawing of relations between the two men and observers in Italy believe it could presage a deal in the New Year which would tie F1 and its most important brand together.

“I must pay tribute to Ecclestone who has always had a great respect for the role and importance of Ferrari,” said Montezemolo.

The feeling is that part of working to get Ferrari signed up for a new long term deal with the sport involves Ecclestone working to fulfil some of Montezemolo’s wishes, like the return of more testing.

Montezemolo appears to have put his ambitions to get involved in Italian national politics on the back burner for the moment, with a change of government in Italy amid the chaos of the Euro crisis. He is going to be centrally involved in the next stages in F1.

It will be a very interesting year, 2012. As well as a closer fight on the track between the top three teams, I believe, be ready to hear a lot about politics between teams, about the new Concorde Agreement and the FIA under Jean Todt has yet to show its hand.

Of course there could be developments arising from the outcome of the Gribkowsky case in Munich which could reverberate in F1.

After a competition in which the contestants were asked to write a post and submit a video, Rachel Clarke was selected as the winner and duly made the trip to Ferrari World and Yas Marina Circuit.

Here is her account of the once in a lifetime experience.

Rachel Clarke writes: In November, I travelled with Shell to Abu Dhabi, to take part in the final event of their programme called the V-Power Network of Champions.

The Network has people from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and the Philippines, it’s Shell’s way of connecting with journalists and bloggers to talk about the Shell fuel story through motorsports and their support of Ferrari.

The final event of the year was a chance for everyone to get together again and take part in some activities around the Yas Marina circuit. Before we got anywhere near any cars though, there was a chance for the bloggers to feed back to Shell what they thought of the year. In general, it was extremely positive, with everyone being surprised at the level of access they had been given to the team and to the work that the fuel company does on the track. There were a few minor concerns but everyone thought the programme had been a success, including the Shell people. Once the chat was done though, it was onto the activities for the day, we were split into 4 teams and went out across the track to try stuff out.

As well as experiencing the cars, there was a fun exercise making mocktails – relating it to the components in the fuel – and answering a quick quiz. They had us all dressed up in wet weather gear for this, as there were lots of water pistols involved!

We all had a go at karting, in my case, a very poor attempt. Having only ever been karting once, I was completely outclassed by my group, being last by a long, long way! But at least I made an improvement between sessions. I don’t think I’ve found a new career though. The other activities at the circuit were less tasking for my driving abilities, as we just got to play passengers.

Yas Marina uniquely have a 3 seater drag car, which was driven by Champion Rod Fuller, who took us to 215kph in about 4.5 seconds. With this straightline acceleration, all I could feel is my insides being pushed backwards. I could see why they had strapped down our hands to keep them inside the car!

My final event at the circuit was the one I was most looking forward to, hot laps around the full F1 track. This was something I had never experienced before, going round at racing speed and I wished I could have had longer. Having watched the Abu Dhabi GP the week before, it was brilliant seeing the track from a driver’s perspective and even trying to spot my room as we went under the hotel. Even though, according to some of the more experienced people at the event, it wasn’t that fast, it was quicker than I’d been round corners in a car before and a lot of fun.

Once we’d all finished at the track, we went onto our next destination – < href="http://www.ferrariworldabudhabi.com/">Ferrari World. They’d cleared out a couple of the rides for us, the simulator (where i got disqualified for crashing once too often) and the Formula Rossa roller coaster, which is just a brilliant experience with its super fast acceleration at the start – if you’ve seen the video of Alonso and Massa on the ride, that’s exactly what it feels like.

And that was it. A final dinner, a really, really hard quiz and a few speeches later and Shell wrapped up their V-Power Network of Champions for 2011. I spent time talking to many of the people involved and it seemed the programme was a great success; they will probably be doing it again next year, with some of the same people and some new ones.

I think Shell successfully blended fun and motorsports with learning about the technology behind the fuel and why it works for both the race engines and the normal cars on the road. Everyone had learnt something, from the visits to the fuel development labs trying to make their own blends to how the scientists testing the fuel and oil at an F1 track can determine when the engine will need to be changed. For myself, I had a brilliant time and came out if with a far richer appreciation of the role fuel technology plays in my favourite sport.

(Group photo copyright Shell used with permission, all other photos RachelC, used under CC)