FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Ferrari unveils 2013 F138 chassis

At an event at Maranello, Ferrari took the wraps off their 2013 formula one challenger, the F138.

Ferrari F138

At an event at Maranello, Ferrari took the wraps off their 2013 formula one challenger, the F138.

The new chassis is a departure from last year;s car, and the team hopes it will improve over the 2012 car in order to win the world championship.

Stefano Domenicali said, "Our only ambition and goal is to make justice to our history and heritage. And there's only one way to do that “ to give our drivers a car capable of winning from the first race, something we failed to achieve in the last couple of years."

"We are aware of our responsibility and of the privilege it is to work for Ferrari and we want to repay the faith that has been put on us. We already forgot last year's bad moments but kept in mind the amazing reliability, the great strategies and the extremely good pit stops we achieved in 2012."

"This car is an evolution of last year's car because the rules haven't change much, but evolution of the F138 will start even before the first race."

The most visible difference between the new F138 and last year's car is the absence of the stepped nose, as the Ferrari's new front end is quite high and linear, and has similarities to the new McLaren, which also opted to switch to a front pull-rod suspension, which Ferrari was running last season.

The front wings are an evolution of where Ferrari finished the end of last year. The side pod intakes are smaller and the side pods size is also shortened.

Fernando Alonso was hopeful that the new car will give him a competitive car and said, "It will be difficult to repeat what we saw last year with seven different winners at the start of the season. Now there's stability and the top teams should dominate. Two or three teams should win all the races and the goal is that we are one of those two or three teams."

"I'll follow the first test closely, but I'll be preparing myself in another way, as I needed a break after a very intense winter. It was important to focus on my physical preparation and because we're lucky at Ferrari that all drivers trust each other, for me it's fine that Felipe and Pedro will test in Jerez - it's like I'll be there doing the work myself."

Felipe Massa said, "The car looks great, we worked in so many areas and I hope we can bring both titles to Ferrari at the end of the season - that's the only thing we really want for 2013. I want to be competitive from the first race and give continuation to what I achieved in the last part of last year."

Ferrari will begin running the new car at the Jerez tests next Tuesday with Felipa Massa driving the first three day before handing it over to new test driver Pedro de la Rosa. Fernando Alonso will sit out the test, and will drive the new car in Barcelona on February 19th.