Ferrari unveil their 2010 single seater

The launch of a new Ferrari is always a special occasion, because Ferrari is F1. And so the launch of the F10 for 2010 was always guaranteed to be a big moment.

Making it even bigger was the man standing next to it (well, nearby) who could be there for the next ten years. This is the dawn of the Alonso era and just as 1996 heralded the dawn of the Schumacher era - 11 seasons of success - so 2010 will be the season that the man from Asturias begins to stamp his mark on motor-racing's greatest marque.

Yet even while all the predictable assertions for every top car launch were being trotted out...
a) We are aiming for both titles.
b) We have been working hard to produce this car.
c) We'd like to thank the sponsors for all their hard work (transferring money)
d) We're really looking forward to getting the car out on track
e) Our drivers are both getting along like a house on fire.
...there was the feeling that something, or rather somebody was missing.

Jean Todt's Ferrari days are long gone, Ross Brawn was no longer required by the Scuderia after his sabbatical and I didn't see any pictures of Rory Byrne. (Byrne was due to end his technical consultancy with Ferrari in 2009. He contributed to the Ferrari case the for the FIA diffuser enquiry but had only been lured back from a 2006 retirement on an ad hoc basis).

So for the first time since 1996, we had no representative of that golden era, the holy quartet of Todt, Brawn, Byrne and Schumacher. Most of all Schumacher.

Luca Montezemolo felt it keenly. Talking about the German's move back to the Mercedes team he said, "I like Schumacher and I'm this misdeed's author." (Now what he actually means by 'misdeed' is hard to work out - probably somewhere between a mistake and a bad deed.) "It was me who woke his desire to come back to racing and honestly I never thought I'd see him in a car that wasn't a Ferrari.

"He's a competitor, an opponent, like many others. I'm not worried about the possibility that he might have taken material from our development."

So why even mention it? Especially at a car launch. Montezemolo's words were almost as worrying as Piero Lardi Ferrari's plea to the tifosi not to think of Michael as a "traitor". Of course he's not a traitor. Anybody who thought that must be barking mad.

Schumacher more than any of the holy quartet brought Ferrari back from the brink. Their serial lack of success since the 1970s was beginning to become a joke. Together with Todt, Brawn and Byrne he established Ferrari as the winningest team in F1 after the sport had been dominated by Williams and then McLaren. It was a transformation driven by Schumacher.

The sight of Ferraris back down the grid was a novelty for some people last season - for those of us watching F1 pre-Schumacher, it was the way it always used to be.

Schumacher owes Ferrari nothing. Ferrari owes Schumacher unwavering support and loyalty wherever or whatever he decides to do.

Montezemolo has been quick to sideline Todt and Brawn when it suited him, so having Michael leave shouldn't feel like treachery. Luca is doubly the author of the 'misdeed' by getting rid of Ross Brawn, because Schumi probably wouldn't have risked his reputation with any other team boss.

And we will see the true depth of Luca's compassion if Alonso trounces Massa this year and Valentino Rossi continues to put in strong testing results.

"We don't have any problem as far as our drivers are concerned," said Luca. "We have Massa, who is back with further enthusiasm, we have Alonso I just told you about and then we have Fisichella as the third driver and two very experienced test drivers: Marc Gene and Luca Badoer."

He's right, they don't have a problem with drivers. They just have a problem with cars to put them in. And talking of the new F10, I'm not a big fan of those white Santander flashes on the front and rear wings. It makes the car more Dallara than Ferrari. Ferraris should be all red.

Whatever colour it is, there won't be a problem as long as it's fast. And very shortly we'll find out...

Source: Launching F10: The Elephant In The Room - Planet-F1 News from planet-f1.com