Ferrari to split F1 design programmes for 2013 and '14 cars

While Nikolas Tombazis retains his chief designer role, Ferrari will split responsibility for its next two F1 contenders.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali said Ferrari had concluded that inefficient technical organisation had been a key weak point in recent seasons. The squad has not won a world championship since Kimi Raikkonen's 2007 triumph.

This year Fernando Alonso took an unlikely points lead despite Ferrari starting the campaign off the pace, but was ultimately beaten to the title by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.

"We have decided, particularly in light of the unusual demands we will face in 2013, when we will have a completely new project to work on for the future, to have two co-ordinators," Domenicali said.

"Simone Resta, an engineer who has developed his career in Maranello and is very effective, will work on the 2013 car and Fabio Montecchi will deal with the one for the following year."

Ferrari is revamping its windtunnel after pinpointing correlation problems, and Domenicali said it will also adjust its windtunnel testing procedures.

"We have also adopted a better method of splitting up the work between those who run the windtunnel and those who should concentrate more on the creative side of the job," he said.

"This year, we saw that when we do too many things at the same time, maybe we are not efficient enough."

Ferrari has invariably been among the first to unveil its new car each winter, but Domenicali suggested that the 2013 machine will not break cover until the eve of the first test.

"Clearly we have only been concentrating all our efforts on the new one from a few weeks before the final race, given we pushed right to the end on this year's," he said.

"The 2013 car will be launched at the very end of January or the early days of February.

"As usual, the first one will be just a launch version, while the complete one will be seen in the final days of testing or in Australia, so as to make the most of all the time available."

Team president Luca di Montezemolo reiterated that Ferrari must also be more bold with its designs.

"We will need to try and push the technical regulations to the very limit," he said, "while maintaining our strong points from this year, or improving them still further, because the others will not be twiddling their thumbs, but not by almost brushing against illegality, as happened in 2009 with the double diffuser.

"However we need to adopt a different, more creative approach."