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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 F12 Berlinetta auction raises $1.5M for Hurricane Sandy relief

Ferrari has managed to raise $1.5 million for victims of Hurricane Sandy during an auction in Austin, Texas for the very first F12 Berlinetta in the US. The funds will go to the American Red Cross and be earmarked for Hurricane Sandy relief. Ferrari started bidding on the F12 at $315,888, but the most powerful production model from the company fetched $1.125 million by the time the gavel fell through bids sourced both in person and over the phone. The company also managed to raise a further $345,000 in in-kind donations before the auction began, and donors gave an additional $50,000 during the event itself.
Ferrari debuted the F12 Berlinetta at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, and the company is set to deliver its first model to a US customer in the second quarter of 2013. The automaker reminds its fans that it is still possible to donate to the Hurricane Sandy relief fund by visiting a special Ferrari section of the American Red Cross page. You can take a closer look at the full press release below for more information.

Ferrari vs. Ferrari: Cut convertibles unloved by collectors?

The New York Times' Wheels blog has a really interesting story on a pair of Ferraris that are set to be auctioned off in Monterey during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. While the two cars are similar on the surface, their differing histories and Ferrari's attitude towards one of them has led to a sort of experimental auction process.
On the one hand, we have one of ten 1967 275 GTB/4 NART Spiders, in the classic Rosso Corsa and appearing at RM Auctions and seen above. On the other, we have a Fly Yellow version that started life as a 1965 275 GTB Coupe, and was converted into a NART Spider. Called a "cut" car, this particular replica is one of about 100 GTB Coupes that were converted into convertibles to satiate the climbing demand for ultra-rare Spiders.
This will mark one of the first times that an original NART Spider will go toe to toe with a replica of itself at auction, and will answer a number of questions about just how important provenance is in the collector car world. Head on over to The Times blog for the full story.