Scuderia Ferrari launch the F2012 - Analysis

For a ‘front running’ Formula 1 team with a track record as bad as 2011’s season (just one win from Fernando Alonso, and bowing out of the Championship fight very early in the season), 2012 was meant to be the start of something new, the establishment of a team who would challenge the likes of Red Bull Racing and McLaren, and take their “rightful” position back at the top of the podium.

2012 however, is off to what is safe to say, an ‘icy’ start for the Maranello based outfit; Scuderia Ferrari.

At 7:29am (GMT), Ferrari announced, via. their Twitter account ‘@InsideFerrari’ that “It is still snowing heavily here in Maranello. Therefore, the launch ceremony of the new F1 car has been cancelled.” At this time in the morning, most of the world’s media were either at the airport, or already on their way to Maranello for the usual launch filled with typical Ferrari pomp and ceremony. What’s worse is that Ferrari didn’t send out the “official” confirmation of cancellation email to journalists until almost 11am (GMT), almost 4 hours after the Tweet, which many had not seen. So although it is hard to blame the snow, which nobody had any control of, the way in which Ferrari handled the situation and ensuing cancellation of launch, was what some would deem as a PR nightmare.

But let’s not stay on the cancelled launch too long. Ultimately, Ferrari decided to go ahead with the actual launch of the car, just without all the lights and magic; they decided that they too would launch over the internet.

So at 10am CET (and funnily enough, the same time as Force India’s launch in the UK at Silverstone), Ferrari’s 2012 drivers (unchanged from 2011) Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa pulled back the covers to reveal their 2012 car, the “F2012”.

So where can I start? Well, as the sub-title may suggest, I thought best to break this article into three sections; “the Bad”, “the Ugly”, and, “the good”..?

The Bad

We’ve already had a look at the PR disaster that was cancelling a launch just 24 hours before it was due to take place, so I move onto the car itself, starting with the ‘bad’ – the name of the car. Ferrari have titled their 2012 Formula 1 season challenger the ‘F2012’. The ‘F’ stands for ‘Ferrari’, and the ‘2012’, well, stands for the year, which is, 2012… I wish I could tell you some more in depth reason as to why the car is named that; maybe some well thought out plan, reason, or intelligence that went into it. But alas, I cannot. The name really is as simple as it seems on paper. Coming off a season where at least the Ferrari car had a name of interest and meaning (2011’s car was named the Ferrari 150° Italia hailing the anniversary of the unification of Italy), this year’s name has no real meaning or substance behind it. It is, in my opinion, a bad name, a name which looks as though the team just realised that an hour before launching it, they needed a name, and that’s the best they could come up with in a short time span. However, it is just a name, so one mustn’t ramble.

The Ugly

There are no two ways about it; the Scuderia Ferrari F2012 is an ugly car. The nose cone / front wing combo does it absolutely no justice at all, and was a surprise to many who, after McLaren launched their 2012 challenger the MP4-27 (with a front wing that fit in with regulations AND still looked ‘normal’), held hope that Ferrari might have come to the same conclusions. Considering a good number of McLaren’s 2011 team employees are now on Ferrari’s staff, it was disappointing to see the team read the new regulations in the same manner, and ultimately, launch a car with the same ‘platypus’ style front wing as Caterham F1 and Sahara Force India; both teams Ferrari would not even consider to be competition to them on the grid.

Ferrari themselves described the car as “not aesthetically pleasing”. Fernando Alonso, in post launch interview, said the car “looks very different”. Felipe Massa described the F2012 as “very strange” and stated that “apart from the nose, the car is very nice”. One only had to look at Twitter as (and a long time after) the car was launched online to see what the public thought of it – many drew comparison to the Lego Ferrari available in toy stores around the world. There is no doubt about it, the nose cone and front wing make the Ferrari one of the uglier cars to leave Maranello for a Formula 1 season.

The Good

The good news is that, behind the ‘bad’ name, and the ‘ugly’ look of the car, there is a lot to be commended and recognised that Scuderia Ferrari have achieved for their 2012 challenger.

They have launched a car which has been radically changed since last year. The front nose is different yes, but is expected to be ‘the norm’ on the majority of 2012 Formula 1 cars (with the exception of the McLaren MP4-27) and is, after all, what the new regulations were pushing for.

The rear of the car, like all so far this year, has also been changed considerably, mainly due to the ban on rear blown exhausts for 2012. A redesigned and reworked exhaust system now sits underneath the smoothed chassis visible to us. However, it must be noted that it remains to be seen just how effective the new exhaust exits (on the top of each side pod on the car) are going to be when the cars take to the track. Ferrari have also adopted the ‘eye-let’ design of their side-pods, the same design we have already seen on the Sahara Force India VJM05, which is said to aid in directing air flow under the floor of the car, which is really where it should be pushed to help reduce drag.

Finally, one of the biggest changes to the Ferrari is the introduction of a pull-rod front suspension; a feature which has not been seen on a Formula 1 car since Minardi used it in 2001. Ferrari say the pull-rod system (a system where the rocker arms run from the top of the wheel, to the bottom of the chassis instead of the other way round) takes the weight of the suspension lower down into the car, resulting in higher stability, and also has an aerodynamic benefit, although, again, this is yet to be seen.

Ultimately, Ferrari seems to have taken the most risks with their car design so far, especially compared to the “beautiful” McLaren, and critics say the approach McLaren took to their 2012 challenger was a ‘conservative’ or ‘safe’ approach (which McLaren have been quick to deny).

“I really believe in the skills we have here in Ferrari” Fernando Alonso told the e-media during the post internet launch interview, and with two months of testing and final tweaks to the car to take place before the Formula 1 season’s first race in Australia at the end of March, there are plenty of reasons the team have to be positive at this point.

Ferrari have taken an “aggressive” approach to the design of the F2012, and Ferrari may yet have the last laugh if the ‘ugly’ nose at the front proves to be a success. The world will now look to Monday (February 6th) and the launch of Red Bull’s 2012 challenger, the RB8. Only then will we see how Adrian Newey, the man who has designed two unstoppable race cars two years in a row, has read the new regulations with regards to the front nose cone, and only then, will we start to understand if it will actually work.

Aldo Costa fell victim to a bad design in 2011, ultimately losing his role to ex-McLaren engineer Pat Fry who has been running things since then. Felipe Massa has also been giving his warning for 2012 – a repeat of 2011 will not be accepted or tolerated. With the exception of Fernando Alonso, who, after committing to the team until 2016 and will likely retire a Ferrari driver, if this year’s F2012 doesn’t produce results, one can expect a major overhaul of the team going forward. The future of Ferrari Formula 1 team as it is today, rest on this [2012] season.

“We want to go back to the top level, we want to win” Luca di Montezemolo told the e-world on Friday after the launch. I believe him, the team believes him, and the drivers believe him. With such a united front in the Ferrari team, will the car deliver the results he is after? Only time will tell.

Yes, the cars name is bad, and yes, the car from the front looks ugly, but Ferrari have everything it takes to be successful in 2012. All eyes to winter testing.

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