Ferrari rolls out latest challenger to Mercedes
Ferrari presented its new Formula 1 car on Friday that it hopes can mount a serious challenge to Mercedes during the 2016 season.
The SF16-H, which is tighter and narrower, sports a different livery with several parts of the traditionally red car painted in white.
It incorporates a push-rod front suspension, after four years with pull-rod, as well as a shorter and higher nose, while there have also been changes to the power unit.
“We know Mercedes was very strong last year, the year before, but we also know we have very talented people here at Maranello,” technical director James Allison said. “We’ve done our best to make this step up, to give this car the competitive edge if needs to be a proper winning car.
“I hope we’ve done enough, but we’ll only know for sure when we start racing it; but the love, effort and skill that has gone into this car is without question.”
Also present at the online launch were team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, chief designer Simone Resta and power unit director Matteo Binotto.
Ferrari finished second to Mercedes in the constructors’ standings last season, with Vettel winning three races on his way to third in the drivers’ competition.
It was an improvement on a winless 2014 campaign, but Ferrari was nevertheless 275 points behind Mercedes, with Vettel 103 points below champion Lewis Hamilton.
“It looks beautiful,” Vettel said. “Obviously there’s been a lot of work going on. It’s very exciting times. To really define my impressions I’ll have to wait until I go on the track.
“We had a fantastic year, obviously it was my first season with the team. Naturally we want more. Last year we were second, so there’s only one more step to take. It will be difficult, but hopefully this car will help us achieve it.”
The drivers get to test the cars Monday in Jerez. The season’s first race is in Melbourne March 20.
“It’s a new year and a new car,” Raikkonen said. “It’s always exciting to see the new car come alive and obviously we have a lot of expectations for the new car and it looks great, but we’ll have to wait until we get to the circuit and get some laps in. I want to win races and fight for the championship. Let’s see what we can do, it’s early days. We’ll wait and see how we do with testing and go from there.”
Williams, which has finished third in the constructors’ championship the past two seasons, also presented its 2016 car. Few changes have been made to the FW38, which features the same red, white and blue stripes as the past two seasons.
Williams has also kept the same driver lineup for the third consecutive year, with Brazil’s Felipe Massa partnering with Valtteri Bottas of Finland.