The state-of-the-art piece of kit has been two years in the making, is housed over two floors and offers the driver a viewing spectrum of over 180 degrees.

At the launch, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said:

“It’s an important day for us. The completion of this project means we will now be able to tackle with confidence some of the challenges that make up modern-day Formula One, while putting Ferrari at the cutting edge in terms of this technology.

“Furthermore, I am pleased such a complex project as this, which got underway around two years ago, has been completed on schedule thanks to the efforts of all those who worked on it.”

Felipe Massa at Maranello 09″ src=”http://anf1blog.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/fernando-alonso-and-ferraris-felipe-massa-at-maranello-09.jpg” alt=”Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa at Maranello 09″ width=”480″ height=”263″ />

Fernando Alonso has today visited the Ferrari base at Maranello, the team he will be driving for next season.

He went to meet his new colleagues but he wasn’t allowed to test for the team in an F1 car as the testing ban is not over until February 2010. However he did manage to get out on to the team’s Fiorano test track albeit in a Ferrari 458 Italia,

“naturally in red”

as the post on Ferrari.com read.

Alonso was still wearing a Renault t-shirt as he is not officially a Ferrari driver yet due to contractual commitments with former team Renault and other sponsors.

The full post on the official Ferrari website read:

Maranello, 6 November 2009 – Today early in the morning, just after 8am. Fernando Alonso arrived at the gates of the Scuderia Ferrari for his first contact with the new team, although still not as an official member due to his contractual commitments regarding image management, which still tie him to his previous team and his sponsors.

The first meeting was with Stefano Domenicali, who then left him to the technicians, who started to work with the driver on the upcoming season’s programme. Between meetings connected to the new single-seater’s project Fernando visited the wind channel to see the model and worked on the sitting position in the car’s cockpit, while the day ended just after 5pm. Before leaving Maranello, Alonso was received by Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, who personally wanted to welcome the Spaniard at Ferrari in a cordially meeting of around half an hour.

Today’s intermezzo was a couple of laps on the Fiorano race track with the 458 Italia, naturally in red: as he couldn’t yet drive a red Formula 1 car Fernando wanted to feel the emotion of driving a Ferrari on the track where all the Prancing Horse’s single-seaters are born and raised.