A diagram of the supposed 2010 Ferrari F1 car, drawn by the F1’s technical journalist, Giorgio Piola has been published in the Italian sport newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The diagram suggests that the car is heavily based around the aerodynamically successful 2009 Red Bull car the RB5, taking ideas like the V shaped nose from the Newey-designed Red Bull.

It also shows the much enlarged fuel tank for 2010 due to the refuelling ban

It is predicted that the 2010 Ferrari will debut on or around the 28th or 29th of January.

Below is a closer look at the diagram, with the text from the newspaper translated into English:

1. At the launch in Maranello the new car will still have the front wing of the F60, we will only see the new front wing during the Valencia test.

2. The chassis will be higher in the area of the nosecone, which will have a shape à la Red Bull (already tested on the F60 last summer).

3. Thanks to the front tyres being smaller and the chassis higher in that area, aerodynamic elements will be attached to the underside of the nosecone in between the front suspension. The smaller front tyres and the ban on wheel fairings are responsible for substantial changes in the front end aerodynamics.

4. Ferrari will continue to sport the external mirrors, still on top of the aerodynamic appendages.

5. The radiators will be longer to compensate for the larger tank area.

6. The tank capacity will be a lot bigger, it goes from around 100-120 litres of fuel last year to around 240 litres this year. As a consequence all the cars will have a longer wheelbase (around 15 cm). Everything has been designed in function of this major change in the regulations: from the weight distribution to the aerodynamics, from the suspensions to the brakes. Keep in mind that during the race, due to the ever lowering fuel load, the ride height of the car will be substantially different at the end of the race compared to the start of it. The aerodynamics and suspensions have been designed in such a way that they are least affected by this change. On the other hand, it will be up to the drivers to manage the brakes and the mechanical side of things in the best way possible.

7. The exhaust manifolds will be a bit more to the front.

8. The arms of the rear suspension will be inclined a bit more to the front as well in order to better exploit the air channels that aid the area of the double diffuser.

9. The biggest change will be the return (after 12 years) of the dislocation of the oil tank. The necessity to gain space in the quest to minimise the lengthening of the wheelbase prevents the designers to place the oil tank a central position (in between the engine and the chassis like usual).

Therefore, a solution first applied in 1998 (and then adopted on all cars) by Alan Jenkins, designer of Stewart, and John Barnard, technical chief of Arrows back in those days, has been reintroduced. So the technicians have made a leap into past placing the oil tank behind the engine, inside the housing of the gearbox. A choice that’s not optimal in terms of lowering and centering the weight as much as possible, but one that had to be taken due to fuel tank being much bigger now.

10. The shape of the diffuser, comprising of three channels, resembles to the one Red Bull had in the latter part of the 2009 season.

11. The rear end crash structure is an integral part of the rear end aerodynamics.

12. Like the front wing, we will only see the new rear wing during the first test in Spain.