Ferrari driver Felipe Massa cannot wait to get behind the wheel of the new F60 again after putting it through its paces around the Mugello race track yesterday.
New regulations ensured that Ferrari's 2009 Formula One car is 'completely different' to its predecessors, both visually and technically, but Massa gave it his seal of approval after sitting in the cockpit of Ferrari's latest innovation for almost 100 kilometres.
'I had been thinking about it on the long flight from Brazil,' he said.
'I had already seen some parts in the wind tunnel last time I was here, but the car is always different when it's ready.
'We have always had gorgeous, exciting Ferraris so I was a bit worried. Then I saw it and it is beautiful.
'Of course I would prefer an ugly but fast car rather than a gorgeous but slow one, but if this is as fast as it is gorgeous, then we have cracked it.'
Massa admitted it 'took a bit of getting used to', particularly with the new kinetic energy recovery system (Kers) which is being introduced for the first time this year.
Kers is just one of several modifications and enhancements, both to the cars and the rule book, designed to make the sport more appealing and increase the amount of overtaking manoeuvres.
However, the main issue the sport's governing body, FIA, and Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) have addressed this winter is how to make Formula One more cost-efficient and, as Ferrari director Stefano Domenicali recalled, more accessible.
'We have to remember that Formula One has a duty towards standard cars,' he said.
'We have lost sight of this in recent years, having gone to extremes. But for Ferrari, this is especially important.'
'It is time to cut the excesses of recent years and mould Formula One for the future.'
