Costa: F2008 will change before Melbourne

The Maranello squad unveiled their new challenger in a low-key ceremony, where photographers were banned, but Costa said the car will change significantly before the first race in March.

"We worked hard on aerodynamics," said Costa during the launch.

"From an aerodynamics point of view the car is completely different except for those elements that at this debut are temporarily identical to the old car's.

"But the car will go through an evolution and so it will go to the first race with every aerodynamic surfaces re-done.

"The front and rear wings will be new, while at this debut they are identical to the previous car. The chassis and the sidepods are slimmer. We've worked on every aspect of the car to improve its efficiency.

"We've also worked on solving problems we had on certain circuits, like Monte Carlo, Hungary, Canada. We worked on certain aerodynamics aspects that could help us on those particular circuits."

The car will make its track debut tomorrow at Fiorano, before the team begin its development programme before the Melbourne race on March 16.

Costa said the team have worked hard to adapt the car to the new regulations, which ban the use of driving aids.

"A lot of work has been done on the aspects regarding electronics," he added. "From this year we have a single ECU from MES, which forced us, who were used to Magneti Marelli, to review the electronic layout of the car, and to get used to the lack of driver aids.

"Lots of work was done on the gearbox. As you know it will have to last for four races. The work has been scheduled around that, with lots of testing on the bench and on the track. So the dimensions of the insides of the gearbox have been changed to increase the life of its components.

"There was work done on the suspensions. It's not visible, but it aims to improve the behaviour of the car on the circuits that saw us having some difficulties last year.

"Finally, there are the details on various systems. Every aspect of the car, including its components, was analyzed and developed.

"The car is slightly shorter than last year. Last year we increased the wheelbase quite sizeably, while this year the general length of the car has remained substantially the same except for a small adjustment we've done for certain specific reasons. But nothing major."