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Marchionne holds Maranello talks amid Ferrari's struggles

Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne has been in Maranello this week holding key meetings with staff to work out what needs to be done to rescue its season. With the Formula 1 campaign approaching its halfway point, Ferrari is still without the victory that it has been targeting since the first race in Australia. And worse than that, it appears to have fallen behind in the development stakes against Mercedes and Red Bull – leaving it now facing a challenge to finish second in the constructors' standings. On the back of a deeply disappointing British Grand Prix, where the team struggled for pace all weekend, Marchionne has elected to spend the last few days in Maranello to try to get to the bottom of what has gone wrong. For although its early season progress was impacted by the tragedy surrounding technical director James Allison, whose wife died just after the Australian Grand Prix, progress more recently has not been good enough. While Mercedes has been pushing on with upgrades at each race to keep improving its speed, Ferrari is still struggling to understand why its car has such a sensitive set-up that allows it to be competitive only in a very narrow performance window. Rather than sitting back and simply hoping for answers, Marchionne has taken it upon himself to push things forward. Motorsport.com has learned that he has held a series of key meetings at Maranello with the chassis and aerodynamic departments – with a particular focus on speaking to those who report to department heads as well as their juniors. Marchionne is determined to find out whether or not there is a belief from the shop floor that more potential can be extracted from the SF16-H, and if the true state of progress of the car is as he has been led to believe by senior management. It is possible that Marchionne could take action after these meetings to tidy up internal structures – moving around those staff who he believes have not been exploited to their best, and moving aside those whom he believes have been holding things back. It could be this action plan that team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was referring to after Silverstone, when he said that the situation at Maranello was now getting more serious – and that the potential for big change was coming if things did not improve. "After Hungary we cannot fool around any more," said Arrivabene.

Ferrari's Enzo successor to cost 1M euros?

If you're planning to pick up the newest hypercar from Ferrari, you may need to do more than save your pennies. Automotive News Europe reports the Enzo successor will cost more than 1 million euros, or $1.34 million at current conversion rates. That's before taxes, too. All told, Ferrari will build just 499 examples of the tentatively named F150 according to reports. The Italian automaker has neither confirmed nor denied the price or production figures, though Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has said the machine is already sold out worldwide.
We do know the hybrid will serve up more than 900 horsepower thanks to a new naturally aspirated V12 direct-injection engine and an electric motor. The automaker says its HY-KERS hybrid system has cut fuel consumption by some 40 percent. Of course, adding an electric motor to the party has added some 330 pounds to the driveline, a fact Ferrari has offset by using carbon fiber for the machine's chassis. Word has it the F150 will have a curb weight similar to the Enzo at a shave over 3,000 pounds.

Totaled Ferrari Dino sculpture sold for $250k

How much would you pay for a Dino? Although this sub-brand was supposed to offer lower-cost alternatives to more expensive Ferraris, a 246 GTS model with "chairs and flares" can fetch big bucks. The later, more angular 308 GT4 is less desirable, but the one above just sold for $250,000. Oh, and it's a complete wreck - an absolute write-off, as you can see. So how did it fetch a quarter million when it wouldn't be worth that much in pristine condition? Because this is art.
"Objet trouvé", to be specific, the French term for a common object elevated to a work of art. That's the way it ended up displayed by celebrated French artist Bertrand Lavier and the Galerie Yvon Lambert at the Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain (FIAC) art fair at the Grand Palais in Paris last week, where an unnamed Turkish collector paid the landmark price. Let's hope he's not planning on restoring it, because it's apparently worth more totaled.