Following on from the PR success of Red Bull's Himalayan hill climb Ferrari have made a categorical statement that they will pull out of F1 for good if their cars are required to race on snow. The unsurprising decision was made following secret testing of specially made Hancook snow tyres on a new "drone" 2012 F1 challenger.
Tifosi peeking over the fence at the track yesterday said that the new car managed to make it to the hairpin 2nd bend before a catastrophic wipeout claimed the entire chassis with only the drivers cell surviving. The "drone" was allegedly being driven from Felipe Massa's PS3.
It is not unexpected therefore that Ferrari have cancelled tomorrow's planned car launch.
Copyright of Ferrari
The Fiorano Circuit is famous for being able to recreate wet conditions for the purpose of testing however, until now nobody realised they could also carpet the track in snow.
Bernie, as usual, was bullish stating that if rally fans could enjoy seeing their heroes racing on snow and ice there was no reason that F!, the pinnacle of motorsport, shouldn't provide fans with the same spectacle.
The official Ferrari statement read:
"There was no let up from the snow last night, which continued to fall on Maranello and the surrounding area and the situation does not appear to be changing this morning," Ferrari said on its official website. "The forecast is still bad both in terms of predictions of more snow fall and of a further drop in temperature.
"Therefore, the decision has been taken to cancel the presentation ceremony for the new car, which was to have taken place at 10.30 tomorrow. The decision was taken because of the weather conditions and because of the difficulties that would have faced the 300 or so people due to attend from the team partners, the authorities and representatives of the media in their attempts to get to Maranello."
No mention of the secret and embarrassing test was made which is not surprising, given the fact that nobody is sure whether or not the use of a "drone" car breaches testing rules.
