For 2010 Ferrari produced it’s 56th World Championship challenger the Ferrari F10, seen here earlier this month at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, that was driven by incumbent number two Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen’s replacement Fernando Alonso in the de facto number one Ferrari seat.

The credits for the design of the Ferrari F10 are attributed to Technical Director Aldo Costa, Engine and Electronics Director Luca Marmoni, Chief Designer Nicholas Tombazis …

and Chief Aerodynamicist Marco de Luca. A team of several dozen will have worked on constantly improving the design and performance of the front wing alone.

The independent front torsion bar suspension is activated by the diagonal elements that rise from the bottom of the wheel hubs to a position within the chassis above the wishbones. The semi-automatic, electronically controlled sequential gearbox has seven forward speeds plus a mandatory reverse.

800 hp is claimed from the 2.4 litre / 146 cui V8 which is restricted to 18,000 rpm. The motor is mounted at 3.5° to horizontal to improve the airflow under the car that generates much of the cars downforce.

The 2010 season proved a success for Ferrari, team leader Fernando Alonso won
5 races in Bahrain, Germany, Italy, Singapore and Korea. Going into the last race of the 2010 season Alonso only had to finish 4th to claim the championship.

An unforced team error when the team failed to call Fernando in during a safety car period meant that Fernando was on the wrong tyres at the wrong time unable to challenge Vitaly Petrov for fourth place while rival Sebastian Vettel won the race and the championship driving a Red Bull.

Felipe Massa finished 6th in the championship having been robbed of his only opportunity to win the German Grand Prix by team orders directing him to let Fernando Alonso through to win the race. The one-two result stood despite a US$100,000 fine which Ferrari attracted for the team order call which were expressly forbidden at the time.

Ferrari finished third in the manufacturers championship behind Red Bull and McLaren.

Thanks for joining me on this “Wrong Footed By Safety Car” edition of ‘Getting a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !