Super Cars Carbon: //:: Ferrari F10 is out and ready to race!

F10!!! Is what they call it. It's the 56th single-seater of Ferrari to contest in the 2010 season of Formula 1. The drivers for this season are Felipe Massa, who returns to the grid after his scary accident last season which resulted to prompting a replacement for him until the season ends. The 2nd driver will be the new comer to the team. The 2-time world champion Fernando Alonso who won both his titles with Renault in '05 and '06 and is sitting in also as a replacement for the 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen who is taking a sabbatical (as they say) for the 2010 season.

Because of the new regulations this season which we will see and witness the ban of refueling. Teams had to fit in bigger fuel tanks to carry enough fuel to let the drivers finish the race which offers big challenges to the engineers in terms of design and the drivers as well. Mainly at the early stages of the race where they will have to manage their tires well because of a heavy fuel load. There were lots of talks around concerning the wheelbase of the car. Larger fuel tanks means larger space needed.... The picture says it all. If you compare the it to the F60 (2009 car). It is actually longer from the center of the rear end of the car. Look closely at the body panels after the exhaust pipes. The F10's are much longer while the F60's are much shorter.

One more interesting change with the F10 compared to the F60 is the top part of the nose, where the nose cone and the end part of the chassis meets up (above the suspension and steering parts).... it does look more like the design similar to Red Bull's RB5 which they used last year during the 2009 season. I have posted also a picture of Red Bull's RB5 at the bottom of this blog. Try to see for yourself.

This is I think a smart move by Ferrari. If you look at how things have gone last year. Red Bull was the only car that fought at the front end of the field without a "double diffuser". It was even faster than the Brawn GP cars at some circuits. So meaning whatever made the RB5 quick was down to the whole package and not just because of the diffuser because Red Bull's RB5 has pretty much the same diffuser as to the 2009 cars of Ferrari, Mclaren, Renault, etc. etc.

The side pods also of the new car is different from last years car as it is more articulated at the outer end.

These are some of the interesting and noticeable parts of the new car. Of course it has lots of changes inside it that's for sure! If only we they've released pictures of it without the body panels. Which I don't think will happen!

Once again Ferrari became the first team to launch their car! Check out the pictures below!

F10 pictures

Ferrari has also announced that they will be running the F10 for the first time on Thursday afternoon at the teams own private test track "The Fiorano test circuit" with Felipe Massa behind the wheel to man it for it's first few laps before packing it up and join other teams for the formal first test session of the 2010 season in Valencia, Spain!

Ferrari has also released some basic technical specifications of the car, though none of the really interesting information such as its wheelbase:

Chassis

Carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure
Ferrari longitudinal gearbox
Limited-slip differential
Semi-automatic sequential electronically controlled gearbox – quick shift
Number of gears: Seven, plus reverse
Brembo ventilated carbon-fibre disc brakes
Independent suspension, push-rod activated torsion springs front and rear
Weight with water, lubricant and driver: 620 kg
BBS Wheels (front and rear: 13 inch)

Engine

Type: 056
Number of cylinders: Eight
Cylinder block in sand cast aluminium: 90-degree V
Number of valves: 32
Pneumatic distribution
Total displacement: .2398 cm3
Piston bore: 98 mm
Weight: > 95 kg
Electronic injection and ignition
Fuel: Shell V-Power
Lubricant: Shell Helix Ultra

F60 (Ferrari's F1 car for the 2009 season)