FERRARI have launched their new car ahead of the 2018 F1 season, featuring an interesting design on the Halo safety device
F1 pre-season testing is about to get underway in Barcelona next week, and Ferrari have become the latest team to unveil their 2018 car before taking to the track.
The SF71H was revealed in front of a live audience at the team’s Maranello base in Italy, with drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen both present for the event.
Ferrari’s new car sports a traditional red livery, but fans and rival teams alike will be interested in their unique Halo design.
With the safety device becoming mandatory this season, Ferrari have added an extra lip on top of the structure – potentially providing more downforce.
Just hours after reigning world champions Mercedes launched their 2017 challenger at Silverstone, their closest rivals from last season – Ferrari – presented their new F1 car in Italy.
The SF71H builds on the foundations of last year's multi-race winning SF70H, albeit with several noticeable differences.
The most obvious visual change is a return to a traditional all-red livery, with the new-for-2018 halo also painted in the colour.
However, closer inspection reveals plenty of significant changes to the chassis, with the car having both a longer wheelbase than its predecessor, as well as an even more aggressive sidepod design, a revised cooling system and updated aerodynamics.
The suspension follows Ferrari’s tried and tested practice of using push-rods at the front and pull-rods at the rear, however, the team say their design has been updated based on experience gained during the first season running Pirelli’s wider tyres.
"The SF71H represents an evolution of last year’s car, which was already a good project," explained Technical Director, Mattia Binotto. "We’ve tried to retain the strengths. Our strengths I would say first is aggressiveness in some of the concepts.
"We designed a car that was somehow performing very well on low speed circuits, but we knew we had to work on new areas of development. For example, trying to develop the car to be strong in performance on the high-speed circuits, but also on reliability.
"What has changed? The main difference is we have a slightly longer wheelbase compared to last year. We have the sidepods, the radiator ducts which are even more aggressive and innovative than what we had last year. Overall, the entire team did a fantastic job in terms of packaging to be very tight. If you look at the body it’s a very narrow body."
The new car will make its track debut during a filming day in Barcelona on Sunday February 25, one day before pre-season testing begins at the Spanish circuit.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will share driving duties.
Ferrari has unveiled its latest grand prix racing car, the SF71H, ahead of the 2018 Formula 1 season.
The halo-fitted new car was shown off at Ferrari's Maranello base on Thursday, four days before the start of F1's pre-season testing at Barcelona.
It features the Italian marque's traditional red livery, with the colour white mostly absent from the car in contrast to its immediate predecessors.
F1 challenger since the 2009 machine not to feature Santander branding, following the Spanish financial giant's decision to end its grand prix racing sponsorship deals.
The Scuderia heads into the season with the same race line-up as it's fielded in the past three years, comprised of the team's most recent F1 drivers' champion Kimi Raikkonen and four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel.
Both were present at the launch, alongside the team's new development driver Daniil Kvyat and Ferrari-backed Sauber reserve Antonio Giovinazzi.
The 2018 car's predecessor, the SF70H, was Ferrari's most competitive offering in years, helping Vettel to five race wins.
It sustained a credible title challenge against the hybrid era's dominant team Mercedes for most of the season, before late-campaign accidents and engine reliability woes allowed the Silver Arrows to break away.
Ferrari's tech chief Mattia Binotto confirmed the SF71H was an "evolution" of last year's design, but also revealed the team has moved to a longer-wheelbase design, akin to the one preferred by Mercedes in 2017.
On the engine side, Ferrari is to start the season with an evolution of last year's design. It is thought to have focused on reliability in particular, given last year's problems and with F1 moving to a limit of three engines per season.
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