Alonso in LaFerrari

Onboard video reveals unexpected Allegro influence in Ferrari's new hypercar

LaFerrari's cards have been played closer to its chest than those of McLaren's P1 but as both cars evolve from showfloor stars to living, breathing hypercars Ferrari has released a video of some shakedown laps with Fernando Alonso.

Steering wheel familiar to anyone?

To Fernando's credit he tends to come across as a lot more relaxed and chatty in these promo videos for his employers than he necessarily does when he's in his F1 overalls. With shorts, shades and the occasional cheeky skid he's clearly out for more of a hoon in LaFerrari than a serious data crunching test run but it's good to see and hear the car in action.

Given that Ferrari has previously boasted that "We try to make aerodynamics with the shape of the car, not to have bigger wings and things like that" (see here for the full story) it's interesting to see the emergence of LaFerrari's rear wing. Although it's not as prominent or active as the P1's, nor is LaFerrari's downforce entirely generated through integrated aero, as implied by Andrea Bassi in the above quote. In discussion with Ferrari's Roberto Fedeli we learned LaFerrari has a 50/50 mix between passive and active aero, Fedeli saying a greater emphasis on the latter adds too much weight and detracts from the purity of the driver experience.

LaFerrari also reveals some surprising BL influence in its interior with the addition of an Allegro style 'quartic' steering wheel.

Active aero emerges from LaFerrari's body

If that's putting you off the noise of the thing will probably bring you back on-side, LaFerrari's V12 already tipped as having the aural edge over the P1's turbocharged V8 and certainly sounding very much the part here.

Keep 'em peeled for a McLaren YouTube riposte and update to its previous teaser vid sooner rather than later...

[Sources: Ferrari's YouTube channel via AxisOfOversteer]