1/43 Model Review: 2009 Ferrari F60

Background

The car was called the F60 to celebrate the 60th year of competing in Formula One. Having expended much resources contending for the 2008 championship which went down to the last corner of the last lap, Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship whilst Massa lost out on the Drivers' crown. That would work against them as other teams were much more prepared for the new rules for 2009. By mid-season, the car was regularly in the points and challenging for podiums, but Massa suffered a head injury during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix that ruled him out for the rest of the year. Long-time test driver Luca Badoer, last raced in 1999 for Minardi, took the second seat, but was off the pace, and Ferrari hired Fisichella from Force India for the rest of the season. Raikkonen took the team's only win of the year at Belgium, having started from 6th on the grid, being chased all the way by Fisichella, then driving a Force India.

Hot Wheels / Mattel

Hot Wheels P9963

The simpler shaped cars for 2009 should work in favour for Hot Wheels in creating the F60 in 1/43. The car still feels like a toy rather than a model, but the overall shape is not bad. The lack of effort on the driver helmets is bad. However there are growing levels of details on the aerials and the cameras. The suspension is not too bad either and they have put on the wheel rim covers too. So judging from some of the previous offerings from Hot Wheels, their standard is improving, but overall, it still feels too much like a toy.
Score: 6/10

Ixo / Altaya

When I first saw this car, I naturally assumed it was from the same mould as the Hot Wheels car, but on closer inspection this is a model from later on in the season. It has a different exhaust, rear wing endplates and includes the vents on rear of the engine cover. In terms of overall shape, it's of a similar standard to the Hot Wheels car, but when you get to the details and suspension, Hot Wheels has moved on a bit in this department. For me, the biggest let down are the textures. The T-cam is red, the front wing end plates do not have the silver highlights, and there's no Bridgestone logo on the floor near the rear wheels. Overall, it's not that bad a model, still toy like, but its let down by being a bit lazy.
Score: 5/10

BBR

BBR BBRC24

Available from BBR are various versions of the F60 including a Belgian GP edition where Kimi Raikkonen took the team's only victory of the year and this one (pictured above) from the Italian GP (driven by Fisichella).

BBR BBRC25A

As you'd expect, this is of a much higher standard from the previous offerings. The F60 is not a particularly nice looking car, so perhaps this captures it accurately. The finish on the paint, the decals to the shape itself and the details they have added is what you'd come to expect from BBR. This is a very nice model.
Score: 9/10

Where are they now?

Ferrari remains just as involved and just as prestigious and important as it always have been. 2019 should see them compete for the World Championship which they last won in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen. After being dropped in 2010, Raikkonen was rehired for Ferrari and drove for them between 2014 and 2018 and is about to commence the 2019 season with Alfa Romeo (Sauber). 

Luca Badoer remained Ferrari's test driver until the end of 2010, making the odd appearance at Ferrari demos. To read a bit more about his torrid time with the F60 you can read this fun article here:

https://wtf1.com/post/remembering-luca-badoers-disastrous-ferrari-comeback/

Felipe Massa thankfully returned to Formula 1 in 2010. Some say he wasn't quite as quick as before, whilst the team maintained that was not the case. After nearly retiring in 2016, he actually did retire from F1 at the end of 2017. He's back in racing for Formula E in the 2018/19 championship.