Ferrari F138 launchposted in F101 | 02 | 2013
FERRARI UNVEILED ITS new 2013 racer, the F138 today, and team boss Stefano Domenicali stressed that rather than surpass its rivals, it must notch them.
After Fernando Alonso narrowly missed out on last year's title, despite having a car which was rarely on the pace of the other frontrunning teams, Domenicali acknowledged the team had to be realistic on how much progress it could make over the winter.
"The main thing is to make available to Fernando and Felipe (Massa) a competitive car," he said.
"I don't think we can expect a car that is much faster than the others — this would be fantastic.
"We have to keep our feet on the ground and have a car that is equal to our competition."
And the Italian was quick to pour cold water on any thoughts that the reason the latest version of the heavily criticised 'stepped nose' of the 2012 had been taken for vanity reasons.
|We wanted to go in that direction because the whole project is to improve performance in that area," he said. "And it is more beautiful!"
Double world champ Alonso, meanwhile, was quick to emphasise it would be impossible to judge the team's hopes for this year until the car hits the track in testing at Jerez next week.
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"The difference at the front is just tenths," the Spaniard said, "tenths you cannot see by looking at the car.
"Sometimes you don't know why a particular car holds sway. We need to get on track and really see how competitive it is."
And he has no doubts his decision to skip the first pre-season test will ultimately pay off.
"I will follow the tests with great interest and all the information that comes back from Jerez I will be looking at," Alonso, who will use the time to concentrate on getting himself in peak physical shape, continued.
"In the next few weeks I will certainly be concentrating on preparing for the championship.
"I was busy with the team in December and January, and up until a week ago we were involved in activities.
"So it's right to step back and prepare a bit so I am 100% from Australia to Brazil.
"We are lucky in this team to have a real good level of trust between us. We trust each other explicitly. We have an extended team; we are not just one person..."
Ferrari's testing duties in Spain next week will be carried out by Massa, and reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa.
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Jim McGill