Stuttgart - Ferrari Monday unveiled its car for the 2009 Formula One championship with a presentation on the internet. It is the first team to launch a new car in a season which will see radical changes in Formula One regulations.
In keeping with the sport's cost-cutting measures, the presentation was via a brief video clip on the team's website along with some recorded interview snippets rather than a lavish launch.
The F60 has been named to celebrate 60 years of Formula One racing by the Italian team. It was to make its track debut with Brazilian Felipe Massa at the wheel at the Mugello circuit later on Monday.
The Formula One Teams Association has unanimously agreed to a set of measures designed to reduce costs for this season by up to 30 per cent, making savings somewhere in the region of a billion euros (1.35 billion dollars).
The initiatives were decided with motorsport's ruling body FIA in December and include more durable engines and limitations on the use of wind tunnels.
Like all F1 cars this season, the Ferrari features some major design changes to fit in with the new 2009 regulations including aerodynamic modifications with a lower and wider front wing and a taller and narrower rear wing.
It is also fitted with KERS, the Kinetic Energy Recovery System which harnesses energy while the car is braking. This is redeployed to provide extra power during acceleration, which is hoped will make overtaking easier.
Also Costa, the team's technical director, said: "It is a completely new car. We started with a sheet of white paper."
Ferrari, with Massa and former world champion Kim Raikkonen of Finland, will be seeking to defend its constructors' title and recapture the drivers' title won by Britain's Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren-Mercedes.
After his first experience in the new car, Massa - who finished second to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' championship last season - said he was "happy and excited" by the design.
The team will be testing in Portugal next week and has planned five tests by the start of the season in Australia on March 29.
Toyota will present its new car in a similar internet presentation on Thursday. McLaren follow a day later, followed by Renault and Williams on January 19 in Portugal, and BMW-Sauber on January 20 in Valencia.
Red Bull has scheduled its presentation for February 9 in Spain's Jerez.
