Sebastian Vettel interrupted his regular schedule today to become the first F1 driver to sample the recently announced Grand Prix Circuit in New Jersey, due to take place in 2013.
As the official "Infiniti Global Brand Ambassador", the German-born two-time Formula One World Champion drove the street circuit in an Infiniti IPL G Coupe, which is a slightly more powerful version of the G37 with a 348hp V6.
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Ferrari has kicked off an on-line international charity auction to raise funds for the families of the victims of the recent earthquakes in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy in May.
The Maranello-based supercar maker has listed and pictured all of the items that are up for sale on its www.ferrari.com website, which welcomes visitors with a message from the company’s Chairman, Luca di Montezemolo.
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Ferrari is expressing its solidarity with families of the victims of the earthquakes that hit northern Italy this month by organizing an international on-line auction through its www.ferraristore.com website.
The Maranello-based sports carmaker will offer several rare items with all proceeds going to the people that were most affected by the catastrophe.
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Aside from Mark Webber's stunning win, Renault had another reason to celebrate in Monaco this past weekend as the French firm introduced the new Alpine A110-50 Concept to mark the 50th anniversary of its legendary mid-engined sports car.
The presentation took place on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix, with Renault's Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares wearing his race suit to drive the 400-horsepower, mid-engined racer around the Circuit de Monaco.
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Last week we drew inspiration from the platypus-style nosecones that are featured on almost every Formula 1 team’s car this year. We noted that there seems to be a direct correlation between ridiculous nicknames and hideously ugly chassis and that the more repulsive a car is, the more bizarre its name becomes.
Nicknames, however, are not only reserved for automobiles that offend us, they are also applied to a handful of iconic vehicles that dominated, dazzled and awed us with their speed and beauty. Just like some famous athletes, movie stars or glamorous supermodels, the following five cars are known by their nicknames alone.
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Proving that Formula One drivers can make the cut in most types of motorsports even in their after-years, former Finnish racing driver Mika Juhani Salo sat behind the wheel of a Nissan 200SX drift car.
The GT2 class winner of the 2008 and 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans had no problem harnessing the 700-horses (and 850Nm) found under the hood of the 1999 Nissan S14 coupe.
Watch him in action at Ahvenisto race circuit in Hämeenlinna, Finland, in the video that follows after the break.
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January 26th was a day that the international media as well as countless racing enthusiasts had been waiting for since the 2011 Formula 1 season finished two months earlier.
Caterham launched its new challenger, the CT01, and by the evening everyone was talking about one of the car’s features in particular. Located on the CT01’s nose was what can best be described as an awkward-looking step and the press quickly began referring to the design as the “platypus nose.”
Over the course of the following weeks, almost every team on the 2012 Formula 1 grid launched their own version of the design and it became apparent that the “Platypus nose” was here to stay.
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In 1943, Italy was in the midst of a war. Along with other major industrial centres throughout the country, the northern Italian town of Modena became a target for bombing raids. It was during this time that Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari decided to move his factory to the nearby town of Maranello.
In the years that followed the war, Ferrari grew to become one of the most recognised companies in the world and the name of Maranello has become synonymous with the famous Italian manufacturer.
As a life-long Ferrari fanatic, I spent my youth dreaming about the day that I would finally get to wander its streets for myself. I remember being overcome with extreme emotion and even though I have been back many times since, the town still holds the same power over me.
Like most carmakers, Ferrari doesn't produce the merchandise it offers through its official stores. Instead, it cooperates with numerous manufactures that specialize on designing and manufacturing these products.
Today, the Italian sports car maker announced that it has signed a multi-year, worldwide license agreement with the Movado Group for the design, production and marketing of a new collection of watches under the Ferrari and Scuderia Ferrari brand names.
The Italian company said that the collection of Ferrari fan watches will be priced up to €1,500 euros (close to US$2,000 or about GBP 1,250) and will be sold worldwide through select wholesale distribution outlets as well as Ferrari's stores and the Ferrari online shop.
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As the saying goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Likewise, you can’t predict the outcome of a race until the chequered flag drops.
Judging both from the first grand prix of the year, as well as Saturday’s qualifying practice at Sepang, the prime contenders for the top spot were the two McLarens, followed by Michal Schumacher in his Mercedes and, perhaps, Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus.
Of course, no one in his right mind would not count Red Bull Racing's duo – or bet a dime on Ferrari winning the race. Well, if anyone had that inspiration, he must have quite a lot of cash right now, because Fernando Alonso won the 2012 Malaysian Formula 1 grand prix.
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Immediately after the 2012 season opener in Australia, the Formula 1 circus moved to Malaysia for the second race of the year.
In contrast to Albert Park, which uses public roads that are closed in order for the Grand Prix to take place and is a relatively easy track, the Sepang Circuit features an unusual layout, with a tight hairpin leading from the very long back straight to the pits.
In Australia, we got a first taste of each team’s pace during tge race. Apparently, the Malaysian GP qualifying session proved that the picture it painted was an accurate one.
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Kamui Kobayashi is 26-year old Japanese racecar driver who started out as a Toyota F1 test driver in 2007 before he got a regular seat with Sauber in 2010. In the first race of the F1 season, he finished a not-too-shabby sixth, one place behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and ahead of Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen.
Dreams are a strange thing, and we don’t really profess to know how the subconscious expresses itself during the time we’re asleep.
Now, don’t get us wrong; we’re all for the freedom of speech and the ability to tweet whatever one feels like posting. However, Kamui, whose name (says Wikipedia) “imitates the sound citing three Kanjiis from the sentence ‘enabling great dreams’”, sure did something weird today, even by Formula 1 standards.
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Nestled deep within the forest of Monza Park is a historic relic with a tragic history. So notorious is this circuit that almost every racing enthusiast on the planet has surely fantasized about visiting it. I am of course talking about the Pista di Alta Velocità, one of the last surviving remnants of a dangerous era of racing that is now only a distant memory.
In the aftermath of the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, the racing world was in shock. On the verge of winning his very first Formula 1 World Championship, Wolfgang von Trips had suffered a fatal accident when his Ferrari became airborne after a collision with Jim Clark.
Adding to the tragedy was the fact that the German’s 156 ‘Sharknose’ had also killed fifteen spectators when it veered into the crowd on that fateful September afternoon.
Images from the scene of the crash were shocking and the incident received international attention, shining a spotlight on the dangers of Formula 1. There were many calls for racing to be banned and Enzo Ferrari even withdrew his cars from the final event of the 1961 World Championship in response to the horrific accident.
At the center of the debate on safety within the sport was a controversial piece of banking that had first hosted a Formula 1 race only six years earlier.
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We're no strangers to Ayrton Senna related items here on Carscoop but there's memorabilia and memorabilia, and this particular sale is one truly unique piece of motorsport history that you don’t often get the chance to see, let alone buy.
This is the Toleman TG184-2 Formula One car driven by Ayrton Senna in his debut F1 season in 1984 before moving to Lotus-Renault the following year, and it's up for grabs at The Spring Sale to be hosted by Silverstone Auctions in Britain on May 16.
It’s the same car with which Senna’s took second place driving in the rain-soaked 1984 Monaco GP, as well as 3rd in the British and 7th in the Canadian Grand Prix’s.
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This past Saturday in Melbourne, the host city for the 2012 season's inaugural Formula 1 race, Australian spectators were treated to not only a very unpredictable qualifying session but also a variety of other events that aimed to dazzle those who were present in Albert Park.
Highlights included an aerial display from the PC9 aerobatics team known as “The Roulettes” and the third Australian V8 Supercars race of the weekend. For Ferrari enthusiasts, the day’s most eagerly anticipated track action, aside from the Formula 1, was a parade honoring Ferrari’s sixtieth anniversary in Australia.
At noon, sixty models from Maranello, one for every year that Ferrari has been in Australia, drove their way around Albert Park. The procession was led by the Ferrari 458 Spider, which made its Australian debut and is predicted to retail at around AU$590,000 when it goes on sale later this year.
Amongst the cars featured were fan favorites such as the 360 Challenge, the Ferrari California and the F40. The country’s very first Ferrari, the Ferrari 212 Export Coupe, hit Australian shores in Melbourne all the way back in 1952 and since then, Australia grew to become Ferrari’s tenth most important market in 2011.
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Every year FIA, the sport’s governing body, changes Formula 1’s technical regulations with the purpose of leveling out the playing field. This forces designers to work within a very strict set of parameters that make gaining an advantage a great challenge.
Despite FIA’s efforts to increase competition even more, F1 is far from becoming something akin to a one-make series. Some teams always make a better job than others do, but we have to wait until each year’s first race before drawing any conclusions.
At the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, the Saturday qualifying session showed us certain things like that the McLaren is currently the fastest car out there, while Red Bull Racing seems to have lost some of its pace due to the rule changes that affected the design of the RB8.
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At the inaugural race of every Formula 1 season you never really know where each team stands in terms of performance. Sure, there are the favorites, the also-runs, the back markers and oftentimes, the wild cards.
Well, the qualifying race of the Australian Grand Prix that kicked off this year's F1 season certainly had all of the above. But not necessarily in the way most seasoned F1 fans might have expected.
Lewis Hamilton claimed the 20th pole position of his career and Jenson Button lined up right beside him, making it an all-McLaren front row. Not too surprising, as despite the fact that Sebastian Vettel took most pole positions last year, the McLarens had proved to be very fast during testing.
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This weekend's inaugural Formula 1 race in Melbourne, Australia, will mark Caterham's first entry in a Grand Prix as a standalone name.
To celebrate the all-important event, the British carmaker brought together three of its cars, the Superlight R500, the new SP/300.R sports prototype and the CT01 F1 racecar, at the Jerez circuit in Spain.
You can watch the video right after the break.
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When the red lights go out at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia on Sunday (17:00 local time, 06:00 GMT), it will not only mark the start of the 28th Australian Grand Prix but of the 2012 Formula 1 season as well.
It will also mark the first time in the 62-year history of the sport that six world champions line up on the same grid: Michael Schumacher (7 titles), Fernando Alonso (2 titles), Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen (1 title each) and, of course, the reigning champion, Sebastian Vettel, who also won the 2010 world title.
In Formula 1, things can change dramatically from one year to another. And FIA is certainly trying hard to make any advantage held by a single team evaporate: thus it made the standard ECUs even simpler, compelled all teams to use “periscope”-style exhausts eliminating their aerodynamic effect on the diffuser, made changes to the front wing’s minimal strength and height and outlawed ride-height suspension systems.
Despite all these changes, some of which were clearly aimed at Red Bull (and made most cars sport an ugly face), the 25-year old German and the all-conquering these past two seasons RBR team are starting out as the ones to beat.
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Only a few days before this year's Formula 1 season kicks off with the inaugural Australian GP in Melbourne on Sunday, Renault released a special edition version of its sporty Clio R.S. 200 hatch to celebrate its F1 Constructors’ title with Red Bull Racing in 2011.
The Clio R.S. Red Bull Racing RB7 is a limited production model that will be marketed in five countries: France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria.
Renault will begin accepting orders in these markets on March 14, with the car’s price in France set at €27,900 (US$36,660), or a little over €4,000 on top of the price of the regular Clio R.S. 200.
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