An early setback for Ferrari

03/05/2012

Shortly after taking to the track in the heavily revised F2012 (above), Fernando Alonso crashed, leaving the Maranello outfit with a two hour repair job.

It's the major upgrade that the Italian team hopes will take it a step forward, enabling it to challenge Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes, after a difficult start to the season.

Much of the rear bodywork is new as the team seeks to find as much of an improvement as possible, particular attention having been paid to the exhaust exits which are now more Red Bull in layout..

While Felipe Massa had the benefit of some updates yesterday, most notably the turning vanes on the nose, the majority of the package has been held over until today when Alonso returned to the cockpit.

Unfortunately, after just 19 laps, the Spaniard went off at Turn 12 immediately bringing out the red flag.

Though Ferrari subsequently tweeted that the repairs would take at least "two hours", adding "it's a shame but that's testing", it's believed the accident was due to a mechanical failure as opposed to driver error.

At the time of the incident the updates appeared to be paying off, Alonso having posted the fastest lap, however, this was subsequently beaten by Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean.

First pictures, here.