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Glamour team Ferrari took the wraps off their new F138 Formula One car on Friday and set their sights on a winning start to the season after turning last year’s beast into a beauty.
The broken, stepped nose that drew shocked gasps when unveiled last season – with some saying it was the ugliest Ferrari ever – was smoothed over with a more aesthetically-pleasing flowing front.
Looking fast and racing fast do not always go together, and even ugly cars are loved when they become winners, but the signs were at least more promising ahead of the first test of the season in Jerez. “It is more beautiful,” agreed team principal Stefano Domenicali after the wraps came off at the Maranello factory.
Ferrari were painfully off the pace at the start of 2012 but their reliability and the prowess of Fernando Alonso kept them in the chase with the Spaniard fighting for the title all the way to the wire in Brazil, home of his teammate Felipe Massa.
The double world champion, denied a third crown by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, said that the Italian team could not afford to make the same mistake.
“There will be three teams who win all the races and we have to be one of those,” said Alonso, who will miss the Jerez test to give himself more time to prepare physically and mentally for the battle to come.
Last year saw seven winners in the first seven races, with six different teams triumphant over the season, but Alonso said that would not happen again.
Champions Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren were the top three teams last year, with McLaren winning the final race in Brazil.
