The new Ferrari F138 Formula 1 car has been unveiled in Maranello, in the presence of Luca Montezemolo, Fiat chairman John Elkann and its CEO Sergio Marchionne
This is the 59th Formula 1 car built by the team and its designation is a reflection of the year and the number of cylinders in the engine. The first “official” photographs actually emerged before the launch on Twitter.
The car is the work of a team overseen by chief designer Nikolas Tombazis and led by Simone Resta. He has been at Ferrari since he joined from Minardi in 2001. He initially worked in suspension and mechanical design becoming head of that department before being promoted to head of research and development in 2006. He was appointed Deputy Chief Designer in January last year and since April has been working on the 2013 car.
The team has a new chief aerodynamicist in Loic Bigois, who joined from Mercedes Benz last year and he has been overseeing the reconstruction of the Maranello wind tunnel, which was deemed to be out of date. This work will not be finished until the summer and the team has used one of the two Toyota wind tunnels in Cologne. The team has recruited a number of new aerodynamicists, plus several old hands, notably Ben Agathangelou. Having said that Stefano Domenicali said that the new car is a development of the previous F2013 but said that he hoped that the leap forward had been significant so that the team can begin the season as competitively as possible.
The team took the opportunity to announce several new sponsorship deals, notably with its first Chinese sponsor, Weichai Power. There is also a deal with watchmaker Hublot, plus increased sponsorships from the energy drink TNT and from the Russian anti-virus IT company Kaspersky Lab.
joeblogsf1 
It hasn’t actually been unveiled yet…
Clever the way they have used black to improve the look of the shape – from the wing pillars all the way to the back.
If thats the car, doesn’t it look better without a hooky nose!
Thank goodness that’s two good looking cars for the grid!
Looks nice in its new livery. There are more teams going for this vanity panel than I thought would. How many will stick with them in the middle of a tight development race remains to be seen.
You have to wonder why they bother having a Weichai Power sticker on there at all. If it wasn’t pointed out you wouldn’t notice it. I guess they’re more of a ‘technical partner’ really. They seem to be mainly involved in R&D for diesel engines, judging by their website. No mention of the Ferrari deal on there.
This is going to be interesting – That’s a strong team of people they have.
I didn’t realize that half of these guys had washed up on the Ferrari shore. Good on’em.
There’s more than one there that has a lot to prove – and can do the proving.
Can’t wait.
Oh yes, and Nando !
Why have they adopted the Marussia colours? A corporate necessity I suppose.
They seem to have dropped the ensign that adorned the top of the car forward of the cockpit, that appeared, where was it, India Grand Prix? Could be that they’re getting cosy with FI would explain that I suppose.
Is it time for them to start saying they haven’t got a fast car yet? Or does that wait until they’ve won a few races 🙂