2007 Ferrari 430 2dr Cpe Berlinetta on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Fernando Alonso gives German TV interview driving Ferrari F12 at the Nordschleife

Fernando Alonso gave a wide-ranging interview to German television station RTL, the Spanish driver and German interviewer conducting the session in Italian, driving a special Italian car on very special German track. Among many answers - from the industriousness of his native Ovideo, Spain to where he relaxes - Alonso gives Ferrari an eight out of ten for the season, admitting they don't have the fastest car but they have a complete car, and refuses to give himself a number, only saying that he is more complete as well than when he first entered.
Beyond the normal-guy persona and wealth of topics, the 10-minute interview is neat for being able to watch Alonso hurl the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta over and around kerbs while he's answering questions. You can check it all out in the video below.

2015 Brazilian Grand Prix is the same as it ever was

At this point, we hope Nico Rosberg is planning to carry his current qualifying form into the 2016 season and back it up with the same kind of race-day cojones he showed winning the race in Mexico City two weeks ago. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver got it right enough again on Saturday afternoon to take his fifth consecutive pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton by almost a tenth of a second. It's the same one-two from Brazil last year. The bad news for the rest of the field is that the winner in Brazil the last seven years has been one of the two drivers on the front row. Last year it was the Williams duo that lined up behind Mercedes, this year it's Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel plays the stalking horse, securing third in his Ferrari ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen in fourth. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas actually qualified in fourth, but he had to serve a three-spot grid penalty for passing under red flags in Free Practice 2, so he started sixth. That promoted Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg up to fifth. Daniil Kvyat was the quickest representative from Infiniti Red Bull Racing, getting into seventh even with a Renault power unit that's weak on some of the key stretches at the Interlagos track. Felipe Massa had the second Williams in eighth, in front of the second Red Bull driven by Daniel Ricciardo in ninth. Toro Rosso hasn't confirmed its drivers for next year but Max Verstappen keeps making it hard to look elsewhere, taking 10th. Rosberg is working nearly the same trick he pulled last year: drive like a second driver for most of the year, drive like a world champion for the last quarter of a season. He pulled away at the start and covered Hamilton just enough on the run to the first corner to keep Hamilton on the outside. By the end of Turn 1 the German had the lead and didn't give it up for the rest of the race outside of pit stops. Without overwhelming pace to pass and unable to follow closely, Hamilton could do nothing except ask his team for a different strategy to go for the win. When Mercedes told him "No," trying to protect Rosberg's second place in the championship ahead of Vettel, that was the race. Just like last year, Rosberg and Hamilton finished one-two. Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, and Kvyat drove lonely races to finish in positions three through seven.

What new F12 has Ferrari got in store for Frankfurt?

Ferrari is widely expected to be preparing a new version of the F12 Berlinetta to unveil at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. Assuming the anticipation doesn't prove futile, the question at this point is what that new variant will look like. At present, we're looking at two possibilities. One prospect would see the Prancing Horse marque present an updated version of the F12 to replace the existing model – much like the 488 GTB is replacing the 458 Italia, the California T replaced the previous California, or (perhaps more poignantly) the 575M supplanted the 550 Maranello. Ferrari has, after all, undertaken a pattern of updating its core models half-way through their eight-year life-cycles. The F12 was introduced in 2012, so a refresh for 2016 would be right on schedule. The other possibility, as Autocar asserts (and as we reported last month), would be to introduce a more potent model to slot in above (and alongside) the current F12. That would follow the pattern established by its predecessor, which yielded the hardcore 599 GTO to slot in above the 599 GTB Fiorano. Those latter three letters would be a more likely choice for the performance-focused F12 than the Speciale name that Autocar proposes and which was already used on the ultimate version of the naturally aspirated 458. Either way, we'll likely be looking at more power and less weight. The F12's 6.3-liter V12 currently produces 730 horsepower, and speculation has placed the new version's output anywhere between 760 and 800 hp. In any event, output will likely be enough to steal bragging rights away from the Lamborghini Aventador SV and its 740 horses. Just what form the revised engine will take remains a big question mark, but don't expect it to go turbo like the aforementioned 488 GTB and California T. Ferrari is anticipated to keep forced induction for its eight-cylinder models, and go with a hybrid boost for the twelves. The enhanced F12, then, could adopt an electrically boosted V12 like the one found in LaFerrari, or it could continue on unassisted for another four years until the model line is replaced entirely. One way or another, we're less than two months until showtime, so we'll find out soon enough.