Ferrari debut new sidepods in Spain

The media on Monday fixated on McLaren's visually obvious new front wing, but arguably the biggest change to a formula one car at the Barcelona test emerged from the Ferrari garage.

The Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport said the updated sidepods of the F2007 steered by Kimi Raikkonen was a "more significant" update than the bridge-like element on the McLaren wing.

It is understood that the reshaped and smaller sidepods veil part of a novel cooling system that engineers at Maranello have been working on for several months.

At the wheel of the updated car on Monday, 27-year-old Raikkonen collected not only the quickest time, but also the five next-best laps of the day.

Test driver Luca Badoer had shaken down the heavily revised F2007, also featuring new front and rear wings and an updated diffuser, at the Vairano circuit last Wednesday and Thursday.

La Gazzetta dello Sport cited a Ferrari source as confirming that the new package had "worked well".

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