Formula 1: Italian GP Qualifying Results

McLaren may have tried to secure some publicity by opening its only Italian showroom in Milan just before the local GP, but on the track, it was Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel who captured the spotlight with his 10th pole position of the year in Monza.

Vettel was almost half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton who beat his teammate, Jenson Button, by a mere 0.052 seconds. The Tifosi had to be content with Fernando Alonso’s fourth place –not a bad result, if you consider that he is one place ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start from sixth position, ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and the two Mercedes’ of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton, completes the top ten of the starting grid with the second Renault.

The race, which is the last Grand Prix in Europe for 2011 since Formula 1 moves to Asia for the next five races before the season finale at Brazil, starts on Sunday at 12:00 GMT.

Via Espn

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Formula 1: Italian GP Qualifying Results

McLaren may have tried to secure some publicity by opening its only Italian showroom in Milan just before the local GP, but on the track, it was Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel who captured the spotlight with his 10th pole position of the year in Monza.

Vettel was almost half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton who beat his teammate, Jenson Button, by a mere 0.052 seconds. The Tifosi had to be content with Fernando Alonso’s fourth place –not a bad result, if you consider that he is one place ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start from sixth position, ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and the two Mercedes’ of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton, completes the top ten of the starting grid with the second Renault.

The race, which is the last Grand Prix in Europe for 2011 since Formula 1 moves to Asia for the next five races before the season finale at Brazil, starts on Sunday at 12:00 GMT.

Via Espn

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Formula 1: Belgian GP Race Results

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso summed up perfectly the outcome of the Belgian GP that took place yesterday at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes forest: “Red Bull had a pace advantage of one second of something like that today. And in the final part of the race maybe more, maybe 1.5 seconds. So when you have a car that is 1.5 seconds faster than the rest it’s easy for you to stop one lap earlier or one lap later.”

And this despite the fact that RBR’s cars faced a problem with tire blistering and asked for permission to change the car’s suspension settings. The stewards denied their petition and the team even considered changing the settings anyway and taking the penalty, starting from the pit lane.

In the end, they decided to race, and it proved to be the right choice. Sebastian Vettel was once again the winner, extending his lead to 92 points over his closest rival, team mate Mark Webber who finished second.

The final place on the podium went to McLaren’s Jenson Button who put in an excellent performance despite starting from 13th place on the grid. Alonso admitted that fourth place was the best he could do, and is currently third in the driver’s standings. But the championship, with just seven races remaining, seems a done deal for Vettel and Red Bull Racing for the second year in a row.

However, the man who stole some of Vettel’s glory at Spa was none other than Michael Schumacher, who celebrated his 20th anniversary of racing in Formula 1. And not only did he put on a show for the cameras, with both his former (Ferrari) and current team (Mercedes), awarding him presents, but he showed that no matter what his detractors say, he still has what it takes to compete despite being 42 years old.

On the same track that 20 years ago he made his maiden appearance in Formula 1, finishing an impressive seventh with a second-tier car and despite never ever having driven there, on Sunday he fought closely with his team mate Nico Rosberg and beat him fair and square, crossing the finishing line in fifth place.

Via ESPN

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Red Ferrari

A beautiful Ferrari for a wedding outside a church in Randwick, Sydney in March 2011

Kahn Reaches to the Ferrari California

Those looking to give a more personal touch to their Ferrari California without…killing it, UK-based tuner Kahn has announced a new program for the Italian roadster.

On the styling front, Kahn's California wears a set of forged Monza wheels in matt black measuring 21-inches up front and 22-inches at the back. Inside, new accessories and equipment include seats, steering wheel, instrument panel and infotainment system.

Performance modifications are limited to a Khan sports suspension system and according to the tuner, an enhanced version of Ferrari's F1-Trac traction control system.

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Cheers! First Photos of Ferrari 458 Italia Spider

The first set of pictures of the Frankfurt Motor Show-bound Ferrari 458 Italia Spider have dripped out on the open thanks to the folks over at the Cheers & Gears fan site.

Information remains scarce for now, but sources suggest that there's a retractable hardtop hiding under the dual pod behind the passenger area, and not a traditional cloth top as previously thought.

Unsurprisingly, we expect the Spider to feature the same marvelous 4.5-liter V8 engine with direct injection technology that powers the 458 Italia coupe model.

The V8 is rated at 570 horsepower at 9,000 rpm and 540Nm or 398.2 lb-ft of peak torque at 6,000 rpm. Power will be sent to the rear wheels through Ferrari's 7-speed F1 dual-clutch gearbox.

Source: Cheers and Gears via Jalopnik

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Ferrari Boss Says No to Electric Models, Endorses Hybrid Tech

Electric vehicles are the new black. Most mainstream manufacturers either have or are currently developing an EV in order to promote their environmentally friendly profile and at the same time, reduce the average fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of their fleet to comply with stricter future regulations.

However, Ferrari’s president, Luca di Montezemolo begs to differ. And we are talking about the man responsible for transforming Maranello’s supercars from fragile and non-practical toys for the wealthy to the finest in their class, while also turning the Scuderia’s F1 fortunes around bringing home five consecutive world championships.

“You will never see a Ferrari electric because I don’t believe in electric cars” he told Engagdet. “I don’t think they represent an important step forward for pollution or CO2 or the environment”. Now that’s a rather controversial statement. And how exactly does Montezemolo intend to make Ferrari comply with future regulations? The answer is hybrids.

“We are working very, very hard on the hybrid Ferrari. This should be the future, and I hope in a couple of years you can see it”.

This was pretty much anticipated after Ferrari unveiled the 599-based HY-KERS hybrid concept at the Geneva Motor Show in 2010 and subsequently equipped the California with an auto stop-start system. And our guess is that the 599’s replacement, which is already being tested, will be the first production Ferrari to boast the KERS system.

Montezemolo’s plans to create a direct link between F1, where the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) is already employed, and the company’s road cars. KERS is recovering kinetic energy during braking, that in normal cars is dissipated as heat, and powers an electric motor that charges a battery. In Ferrari’s case, a sophisticated management unit using technology developed for the F1 department controls the system.

The hybrid system in the prototype 599 is very compact, weighting just 40 kg, and is coupled to the rear of the dual-clutch transmission, engaging one of the two primary shafts and ensuring a seamless transition between the gasoline-powered V12 and the electric motor. The hybrid Ferrari can also run on 100% electric power for a short amount of time, powering all of the car’s systems, such as air conditioning, power steering and brakes.

Despite its compact dimensions, the Ferrari KERS system adds another 100HP to the car’s maximum power, further increasing its performance and, at the same time, reducing its CO2 emissions by around 35%.

To this number you can add the 23% reduction in CO2 emissions by the HELE system that was launched last October in the California and includes, apart from the auto stop-start, a range of features such as :intelligent" cooling control, engine-CPU controlled fuel pump and air conditioning, all designed to make the Italian supercar more eco-friendly.

Looks like Montezemolo is right after all: near future Ferraris will pollute less, but still produce that gorgeous V8 or V12 music and not some whining electric sound.

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