Alonso working hard as Ferrari plans February launch

Ferrari’s 2012 car will be ready to roll at the first official test of the winter pre-season.

A spokesman for the Italian team told Reuters as well as Autosprint (Italy) and SID news agency (Germany) that the new single seater will be revealed before its Jerez debut in early February.

A precise launch date was not specified.

"Definitely, the new project is a clean break with the past and a very different one," Luca Colajanni is quoted as saying.

Spain’s AS newspaper reported that Fernando Alonso has visited Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters "on several occasions" since the 2011 season ended in Brazil.

"Now, he has travelled to Maranello to be at the controls of the simulator for several days until Monday," said the report.

AS continued: "In fact, unlike normally, the Spaniard was unable to attend an event for Shell this week with journalists in Madrid.

"Instead he is in Italy trying different solutions for the 2012 car, which has been in the developing phase for some time as Ferrari hopes to return to winning ways."