Prancing Horse has an ugly makeover

Motor sport Formula One

FIA’s newest safety-related changes force Ferrari to add an ‘unaesthetic’ step to F2012’s nose.

Ferrari have blamed Formula One's 2012 regulations for making the nose of their new car ‘not aesthetically pleasing’ while also revealing that the front wing of the F2012 will evolve in the coming months.

The car, codenamed 663 within the Maranello factory of the sport's oldest team, includes several radical changes as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa look to regain Ferrari's glory days after four years of disappointment.

The new rules state that cars this season must alter the height of the front section of the chassis, the position of the exhaust pipes and the mapping for the electronic engine management.

Changes to the nose have especially upset the glamour team, who have always wanted to look good on and off the track.

"The nose has a step in it that is not aesthetically pleasing: with the requirement from the regulations to lower the front part, this was a way of raising the bottom part of the chassis as much as possible for aerodynamic reasons," a team statement said on Friday as this season's car was unveiled on the internet.

Snow forced the Italian team to cancel a live launch to which some 300 people had been invited. The 58th F1 single-seater built by Ferrari also has a new suspension with the front wing still to be fully developed.

"Both the front and rear (suspensions) feature pull-rods, aimed at favouring aerodynamic performance and lowering the centre of gravity. The front wing is derived from the one introduced on the 150º Italia in the final part of its racing life (last season) and has been evolved from there. Further evolutions are planned in this area for the opening races of the season," the statement added.

The sides have a new look with the radiators in a different place while the lower part of the back of the car is narrower thanks partly to a new gearbox casing.

The front and rear air intakes for the brakes have been changed while the engine is little changed from last year's car given the technical regulations.

The kinetic energy recovery system has kept its low central location but has also been redesigned.

Ferrari -- a distant third behind champions Red Bull and second-placed McLaren last year -- said much would still change during the year.

"The car is due to undergo a very intensive development programme over the first part of the season," the statement said.

Testing, of which there is only 12 days, begins in Spain's Jerez next week with the first race in Melbourne on March 18.

Meanwhile, Felipe Massa was given a frosty reminder that he must shape up this year.

Brazilian Massa, who labelled the F2012 ‘aggressive’ because of its radical new look, has suffered two poor campaigns and was warned he must perform this season with his contract up at the end of the year.

"As for Massa, he knows as much as we know that he has to do something great, something better after a not-so-positive season," Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said in a video link on www.ferrari.com.

"We are offering him the best conditions to do a great job."