Ferrari has this morning unveiled its 2011 contender, the Ferrari F150.

In front of a couple of hundred guests and invited members of the media, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa pulled back the covers to reveal the car with which they aim to win the 2011 championship.

"We start off with reliability, this is the basis of our work," said team principal Stefano Domenicali. "We want to arrive at the first race with all the details ready. Last season had difficult moments but also beautiful ones and we must begin again from there. The team is motivated and always wants to improve."

The car, the first of the 2011 contenders to be launched, is scheduled to make its track debut this afternoon while on Tuesday the team begins its -pre-season preparations when testing gets underway at Valencia.

The F150 is the fifty-seventh single-seater built by Ferrari specifically to compete in the Formula 1 World Championship, the Maranello team choosing the name as a tribute and celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

The project, which goes by the internal code name of 662, represents the team's interpretation of the 2011 technical and sporting regulations. Various factors influenced the design of the car, especially on the aerodynamic front, to the extent that the F150 can be seen as severing ties with the recent past.

The innovative aspects are in part dictated by changes to the regulations and partly down to original thinking from our designers. As far as the rule changes from 2010 are concerned, the double diffuser and the blown rear wing are banned, as is the use of apertures in the front part of the floor, while the use of an hydraulically controlled adjustable rear wing has been introduced. After an unofficial agreement saw its use banned for 2010, KERS is back this year, thanks partly to the increase in the car's minimum weight and stricter controls on weight distribution figures. The Scuderia has decided to incorporate this technology on the F150 and this has had a significant impact on the design, also taking into account that the dimensions of the fuel cell are very different to what they were in 2009. Also significant are changes dictated by the introduction of stricter safety requirements in terms of crash-tests, cockpit area protection and wheel-retaining cables for use in accidents.

At first glance, the front part of the F150 monocoque appears to be higher than that of the F10. The openings for the side air intakes are reduced in size, while the layout of the dynamic one above the driver's head has been modified. The rear suspension features a new design, while that at the front has been modified, following changes to the front part of the chassis. The exhaust system layout is similar to that adopted for the second half of last season and the cooling system has had to take into account the return of KERS and the new air exit ducts. The braking system has been completely redesigned in collaboration with Brembo.

However, the aerodynamic package sported by the car at the presentation is very different to the one which will be seen for the first race in Bahrain: for the early stages of testing, the decision was taken to concentrate on development aspects linked to the mechanical components and on developing an understanding of the Pirelli tyres, while continuing to push on the development of aerodynamic performance in the wind tunnel. Indeed, the tyres will be another significant new element this season: after a thirteen year relationship with Bridgestone, this year it is Pirelli who take up the baton as sole supplier to Formula 1 for the next three years and thus provide the tyres for the cars from Maranello. Given that the teams have so far only managed two days of testing with the new tyres back in November, clearly the fifteen days of testing prior to the start of the season will be very important when it comes to adapting the handling of the car to the tyres.