Ferrari emphasize the old, while unveiling the new

Full marks to Ferrari for getting their 2009 car out first, especially as they were fighting for the world championship until the final round last season.

So dramatic are the rule changes this year - the biggest for a generation - everything is new with these cars and it's hard to make many judgments based on what we see at the launch. Technical boss Aldo Costa says that it is a completely new car, a clean sheet of paper, but I'm sure much of the DNA which has run through the ultra successful generation of Ferrari cars since 1999 is there.

It's a nice touch that Ferrari has called the car the F60, to underline the fact that the team is the only one to have taken part in every one of the 60 years of world championships. But it also indicates the degree to which the company feels it is intrinsically linked to the sport, that their heritage and F1's are one and the same. There is more to this than meets the eye. The sport is at a historical turning point and team principal Stefano Domenicali underlined that Ferrari is playing a key role in the shaping of the sport for the future; he is referring to the recent developments with FOTA.

Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo is also FOTA president and he cuts a different figure from a year ago. He is positioning himself to be the man who drives the new teams' organisation forwards, with Ferrari at the heart of it. The teams are dead serious about looking after their interests better and he is a formidable man, who is now towards the end of his amazing career and has one last big battle to fight. That battle will be with Bernie Ecclestone and it will be all about the commercial revenues of Formula 1. I have a feeling that Montezemolo sees a potentially redrawn F1 landscape, with the teams far more in control of things, as his legacy. And this battle between two titans will make 2009 a fascinating year. Which side will Max Mosley come down on?

The dynamic between the Ferrari drivers is clearly quite different from 12 months ago, with Felipe Massa having shown himself to be lead driver material, something which has not happened at Ferrari for a long time. So, unlike 12 months ago, Kimi Raikkonen was not standing there with everyone looking at him as 'The Man'. Instead there is an intricate battle, which will be one of the most interesting features of the 2009 campaign.

Domenicali was careful to down play expectations, saying only that they hoped to be among the top teams. They ended the 2008 season as the fastest car in Brazil, but there were some warning signs in the closing races that they were not finding it easy. Eight constructors world titles in 10 years speaks for itself, but they cannot keep it up forever. Interestingly, Domenicali said at the launch that he feels the drivers will play a more important role this year than in recent times, because they will have more parametres in their hands, such as when to use the KERS power boost button. Mastering the new slick tyres, managing them over a stint and working out when they are at the best will also be a vital part of the driver's role.

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