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Vettel sticks with Ferrari for three more years in 'a no-brainer' move

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (Reuters) - Sebastian Vettel ended speculation about his immediate Formula One future by signing a three-year contract extension with Ferrari on Saturday. The Italian team, the sport's most successful and glamorous, said the new deal covered the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons but gave no further details in a statement of just 30 words. There will be inevitable questions about possible release clauses, not to mention speculation about how many tens of millions of dollars the 30-year-old German will be earning over the period. But the news, at the Belgian Grand Prix and a week before his team's home Italian race at Monza, will allow Ferrari to concentrate on fighting for the championship without distraction. "I love this team. I love the people who are working for this brand," Vettel told reporters later. "Ferrari has something unique, something that other teams don't have. People talk about a legend. To me it appears that this legend is still alive because of the people who work for it, day in, day out. "In a way, it was a no-brainer to continue. We haven't yet achieved what we wanted to achieve but things are looking pretty good, and obviously we have a long road ahead of us," he added. The four-times champion, who joined Ferrari from Red Bull in 2015, is 14 points clear of Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton in the current standings with nine races remaining. The German had been out of contract at the end of this season and there had been speculation about a possible switch to Mercedes -- a move that would have sent a tremor through the paddock. Hamilton, a triple world champion who has one more year left on his Mercedes contract, laughed off that possibility earlier in the week when he told reporters that his rival did not want to be his team mate. Niki Lauda, the Mercedes non-executive chairman, told Sky Sports that there had been talks with Vettel but team principal Toto Wolff said that was not the case. Vettel's Finnish team mate, Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, has already agreed a contract extension for 2018, keeping Ferrari's line-up unchanged for next year. Raikkonen, 37, and Vettel get on well, with the Finn playing the role of loyal sidekick to the team's main championship contender. Mercedes are now likely to retain Finland's Valtteri Bottas, who joined in January from Williams as a replacement for now-retired 2016 champion Nico Rosberg on a one-year deal with options.

2015 Ferrari 458 Italia to go turbo?

Forced induction has definitely hit trend status when it comes to performance cars. Whether it's the supercharged Hellcat V8 in the Dodge Challenger SRT, the latest twin-turbocharged M3/M4 or even the entry-level speed of the Ford Fiesta ST, if you want the fastest car in any given segment, in all likelihood it has a turbo or supercharger. Even Ferrari hasn't avoided the bandwagon with the latest iteration of the California that replaces the original 4.3-liter V8 with a 3.9-liter turbo V8 offering 552 horsepower for more power and better fuel economy. If recent rumors prove true, it might not be the only Prancing Horse to use this engine for long.
According to Car in the UK, Ferrari is planning to boost the 3.9-liter V8 up to around 670 hp and place it in a refreshed 458 Italia in 2015. If true, that is an astounding increase over the version from the latest California and a roughly 70-hp improvement over the current 458 Speciale.
The extra power would come with a serious challenge of how to maintain the 458's delicious exhaust note. Turbocharged engines are often quieter than their naturally aspirated counterparts, modern Formula One cars serving as a prime example. The California may get a pass because it's more of a GT, but the 458 is the brand's bread-and-butter sports car. It needs to sound like a proper Ferrari V8. However, Car claims Maranello is a step ahead and has a complicated exhaust layout - as is the case with the California T, we might add - ready to keep much of the characteristic yelp in tact.

Ferrari F12 TdF shrieks like a banshee on the Gumball

With all the exotic metal (or carbon) participating in the Gumball 3000 rally each year, it takes something truly exceptional to turn heads. The new Ferrari F12 TdF is up to the challenge. For those who may have missed the reveal back in October (and this week's episode of Top Gear), the F12 TdF could very well be the ultimate naturally-aspirated twelve-cylinder Prancing Horse. And by "ultimate," we mean possibly the last, before turbochargers and hybrids take over Maranello completely. Named after the legendary Tour de France (for automobiles, not cyclists), Maranello's latest is based on the F12 Berlinetta, but like the 599 GTO before it, the TdF pushes the envelope even further. Its 6.3-liter atmospheric V12 revs all the way up to 8,900 rpm, producing a monstrous 769 horsepower and 520 pound-feet of torque along the way – enough, in other words, to put the Lamborghini Aventador SV (and most anything else) to shame. It'll reach 62 miles per hour from a standstill in less than three seconds, top out at over 211 mph, lap Fiorano faster than any road car this side of LaFerrari, and slide around all day and all night with its four-wheel steering system. And it screams. Don't take our word for it: turn up the speakers, hit "play," and listen to the F1-like shriek it emits out in the wild. Related Video: News Source: Marchettino via YouTube Ferrari Coupe Performance Videos ferrari f12 gumball 3000 ferrari f12 tdf