Motorsport: Ferrari's snowbound F1 launch

A snowstorm in Europe didn't put the ice on the unveiling of Ferrari's latest Formula One car, with the launch taking place on the internet.

With Ferrari's hometown of Maranello snowbound, the F2012 was unveiled in cyberspace for the media and the public and within hours there were more than five million hits on Ferrari website.

The F2012 is the 58th car built by Ferrari and constitutes the interpretation of the regulations that apply this year. The main changes are the height of the front section of the chassis, the position of the exhaust pipes and the mapping for the electronic engine management.

Practically every area of the car has been revised, starting with the suspension layout, with the front and rear pull-rods favouring aerodynamic performance and lowering the centre of gravity.

The engine in the F2012 is an evolution of last year's one, which is inevitable given that the technical regulations forbid modification to internal components aimed at increasing performance.

Another area on which the Maranello engine specialists have been working is performance drop off, with the aim of maintaining the highest possible performance level throughout each engine's cycle of use, which has now reached an average life of three races.

The three test sessions - at Jerez de la Frontera and Barcelona - will be used to adapt the car to the Pirelli tyres and the F2012 will undergo a development programme over the first part of the season, especially on the aerodynamic front.