Ferrari eyes championship glory with F10

The team's 2010 challenger was unveiled in Maranello on Thursday morning, with the Italian squad hoping that its early focus on the new car will see a return to form after the difficulties of last season.

Technical director Aldo Costa said: "We think this new car is a good step forward in aero development, car settings and also engine - and we are pretty much convinced we have taken a big step forward.

"We cannot know what our competitors have done, and only during the first race will we realise that. But it carries all our passion and the determination of a group that wants to forget what happened last year and go back to being competitive from the very first race."

Ferrari began work on the F10 as early as last spring, and by the summer its design staff were working wholly on the new car after abandoning development of the F2009.

Costa said that a lot of development work had been spent on optimising the double diffuser on the new car - having been forced to integrate as best as possible on last year's machine.

"As you know double diffusers were made legal during the previous season," he said. "It revolutionised and changed the design of the cars - and we had to start it from zero, from scratch.

"We have adopted the concept, and this is something that was not possible during the last championship when the car had already been designed.

"A big change has taken place - not a dramatic change like from 2008 to 2009, but the car is substantially different from the previous cars."

Ferrari plans a host of aerodynamic upgrades prior to the first race, and has pencilled in major aerodynamic and mechanical upgrades over the course of the year.

Chief designer Nikolas Tombazis added: "F10 is totally revised compared to the previous one.

"We are very much satisfied with the work we have done, although we are very aware of the fact that we will see on track if we have worked enough.

"It was good team work and all of the departments have worked hard. We are confident this car represents a step ahead and we look forward to seeing the first races."