The 2012 Ferrari reportedly failed the crash test

While Stefano Domenicali confirmed at the Vrooom days held in Madonna di Campiglio that the latest creation from Maranello would be unveiled on February 3 and that, weather permitting, it would make its first laps on the same day or at most in the following days before participating in the first tests in Jerez, the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat as well as Yahoo Italia/Eurosport reported that the new Ferrari – currently known as project 663 – failed its first crash test, required since 2012 for all teams before any official testing can be conducted.

Nothing alarming, however, since, for example, Renault failed its crash tests with the R30 in 2010, but also with the R29 in 2009 and especially with the world champion R25 in 2005. According to Yahoo Italia/Eurosport, the men from Maranello are already on deck to conduct a second crash test this week, at the CSI facilities in Bollate, near Milan, with a reinforced car after learning from this failure.

After a 2011 season where the Italian team was deemed too conservative with its 150° Italia, Ferrari expressed its desire to approach 2012 with a more aggressive project, an aggressiveness seemingly evidenced by this failure during the crash test. In Madonna di Campiglio, Stefano Domenicali confirmed that the latest from Maranello will stand out from its predecessor: Mechanically, there are many solutions that have never been introduced: you’ll see, it’s different.

Often known for producing beautiful single-seaters, the Scuderia has decided to prioritize efficiency over aesthetics: It will surely be different because it represents a clear break from the past in terms of design philosophy: it will not be particularly beautiful because the technical regulations don’t allow for much leeway, but, and this is what really matters, it will be fast, at least, I hope so. I have asked our engineers, since last summer, to exploit every point of the regulations to the limit, but until we see the other cars, we won’t know if we have reached the extreme limits or not.

While Autosport indicated yesterday that another team besides Lotus had filed plans for a system to correct the car’s attitude during braking, some sources close to the Scuderia suggest that it is none other than Ferrari. This comes after Stefano Domenicali admitted, during a press conference, that they were looking into this area to see if it could contribute to performance.

For his part, Luca di Montezemolo commented on Domenicali’s statements regarding the look of the next car for Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa: “I would like it to be hideous. I say this provocatively because I would like it to be victorious and reliable.”

Only remains to discover the Italian single-seater in action, during tests and the first races, to see if Ferrari can be competitive again: « We came close to the title in 2010, we were far from it in 2011, and we want to win it in 2012. It’s easy to say and harder to do, but there is an extraordinary commitment to achieve this goal » assures Luca di Montezemolo.