Confident Ferrari Unveils Racing Car for 2001Rome, January 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Ferrari Monday unveiled the car it has designed with the goal of repeating its double triumph in Formula 1 last year, when it won both the driver's and the team championship title.The new F2001 car, Ferrari's 47th racing model, was uncovered in front of dozens of photographers and journalists from 33 countries at a special ceremony at the racing team's Fiorano race- track near Bologna. Current world champion Michael Schumacher pulled aside the cloth covering the car, scarlet as is the Ferrari tradition, with the help of team-mate Rubens Barrichello of Brazil and test driver Luca Badoer. "We want to keep this number one for a long time yet," Schumacher said, indicating the large '1' stuck to the vehicle's nose to signify that its driver is reigning champion. The 4.4-meter-long car showed a series of alterations from last year's F1-2000. Many of these were dictated by changes in Formula 1 rules aimed at making the sport safer. The car's centre-of-gravity has been lowered thanks to a series of aerodynamic adjustments including a lower nose, a longer 'skirt ' around the cockpit and higher front fins. The 10-cylinder, 800-horse-power engine has also been improved to reduce the weight of its moving parts and the friction between them. In a bid to build on one of Ferrari's winning characteristics last season, technicians focused especially on ways of further increasing the car's reliability. Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo appeared confident the Formula 1 racing team would repeat last year success. In the 2000 season, Ferrari won a record 10 Grand Prix races and saw Schumacher take the team's first drivers' championship in 22 years. "We want to win the 2001 world championship," he said, "and we have the means and the enthusiasm to do it." For the first time ever, this presentation of the new car was conducted solely in Italian. |
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