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Ferrari threatening to fine journalists $69,000 for breaking LaFerrari embargo?

In automotive journalism, we deal with embargoes on a regular basis. For the uninitiated, these are agreements between publications like Autoblog and manufacturers. While news embargoes (where pubs are provided with information and images and agree to hold until a predetermined date) are fairly common, today, we're focusing on drive embargoes. These are what we generally end up signing when we attend a vehicle launch. Generally, these are in the media's best interest. As drive programs are spread out over a week or two with multiple different "waves" of media, drive embargoes put the biggest and smallest publications on level footing when it comes to publishing reviews.
According to a report from Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe, Ferrari has taken its drive embargo for the LaFerrari hypercar a bit too far. See, initial reviews from the few publications that attended the drive event for the hybrid-powered monster can hit the newsstand or internet on April 30. Originally, syndicated stories - those sold by freelancers or publications to other outlets - couldn't be published until May 12. These syndicated reviews are big money for larger magazines and, in the case of freelance journalists, are a primary source of revenue. Inexplicably, though, Ferrari has pushed the syndication embargo back to May 26, which is bad news for everyone involved (aside from Ferrari).
This could have been nothing more than an annoyance. The stories would still get sold (although it might be for a bit less coin, considering the initial reviews will be nearly a month old) and you'll still be bombarded by reviews of the LaFerrari not once, but twice, just as Ferrari planned.

Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2 are its most powerful road cars of all time

Ferrari just pulled the wraps off the limited-edition Monza SP1 and SP2, and successfully reminded the world that it still knows how to make a jaw-dropping car. We saw the supercars and learned a few details about them earlier today when someone posted pictures on Instagram from a private Ferrari event. Now we have all the details and official photos from Ferrari. Providing the thrust is the most powerful engine Ferrari has ever built for a road car. It took the 6.5-liter V12 from the 812 Superfast and eked out a few more ponies to get it to 809 horsepower and 530 pound-feet of torque. Ferrari says that's good for a 0-62 run in 2.9 seconds - oh yeah, there's no windshield either. The SP1 is a one-seater and the SP2 is logically a two-seater. They were designed to take us back down Ferrari's memory lane, namely those of the 1940s and 1950s era where the name "barchetta" grew from. In decidedly not-old news, though, both are made of carbon fiber and go over 186 mph. They're light, but not crazily so with the SP1 coming in at 3,307 pounds. The pair are also part of a new segment Ferrari is calling 'Icona,' which, as you may have guessed, translates to Icon. Ferrari thinks it solved the windshield delete issue too. Apparently the fairing ahead of the steering wheel and instrument panel is designed to disrupt part of the airflow when traveling at speed. We'd imagine a helmet might still be the smart option though. Ferrari only plans to build 500 of these cars and hasn't publicly announced a price, but it's safe to assume that they won't be cheap and your chances of snapping one up are slim to none. Featured Video:

Kimi Raikkonen fastest in first Belgian Grand Prix practice

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen lapped fastest in first practice for the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday but Mercedes, and title contender Lewis Hamilton, still looked every bit the team to beat. A four-time winner at Spa, and with a contract extension for 2018 announced earlier in the week, Raikkonen lapped the longest track on the calendar with a best time of 1 minute 45.502 seconds. The 37-year-old Finn's time was set on the quickest ultra-soft tires, however, while Hamilton — preparing for his 200th race start — was second-fastest and only 0.053 slower on the soft compound. Hamilton was 0.092 faster than Ferrari's world championship leader Sebastian Vettel, with the German third on the timesheets and also setting his time on the quickest but least durable tire. Vettel leads Hamilton by 14 points with nine races remaining. Red Bull's Dutch teenager Max Verstappen, Belgian-born and attracting a huge traveling support of orange-capped fans, was fourth fastest with Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo fifth. Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas, who bumped into the tire barrier after going off across the gravel and damaged his front wing, was sixth fastest. The session was halted after 15 minutes when Brazilian Felipe Massa, who missed the previous race in Hungary after feeling dizzy in practice, crashed heavily into the tire barrier at turn seven out of Les Combes. He was taken to the medical center for checks, before returning to the pitlane, with his team facing a long job rebuilding the car. The session resumed after a 10 minute stoppage. Williams said the chassis would have to be changed and the team still hoped to get the car back out on track for some of the day's second session, even if that looked like being optimistic. Fernando Alonso suffered a lack of power in his McLaren, but still ended up 13th fastest. Belgian team mate Stoffel Vandoorne, who will start his home race last on Sunday thanks to a 35 place penalty due to a power unit change, was 10th. Reporting by Alan BaldwinRelated Video: Image Credit: Reuters Motorsports Ferrari McLaren Mercedes-Benz F1 Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Kimi Raikkonen Max Verstappen Valtteri Bottas belgian grand prix