2005 Ferrari F430 Berlinetta F1 Coupe Silverstone Beige Daytona Seats Shields on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Race Recap: 2013 Italian Grand Prix is mistakes, gremlins and metronomes [spoilers]

The low-downforce, 5.793-kilometer circuit in Monza, Italy is known as the Temple of Speed, but only a few of the qualifying performances would have clued you into it. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing chassis' lined up first and second, and it didn't seem like Vettel had to work too hard to do so. Nico Hülkenberg truly lived up to his nickname, The Hulk, and put his Sauber third on the grid, a massive drive and turn-of-speed that even he didn't expect, especially with his teammate Esteban Gutiérrez down in 13th.
The rest of the top ten was what you might expect. Shenanigans at Ferrari ended up with Felipe Massa out-qualifying Fernando Alonso for fourth and fifth, a situation that led to Alonso calling his team either "stupid" or "genius," depending on how you translate his Italian, his sarcasm and his honesty. They were followed by Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas, the soon-to-be Infiniti Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso, the McLaren duo of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button and the second Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne.
Why wasn't Kimi Räikkönen at Lotus in that group? Because his car only had the pace to make 11th on the grid, so he said. And behind him, Lewis Hamilton - who "drove like an idiot," in his words - in the second Mercedes.

2015 Australian Grand Prix all about grooves and trenches [spoilers]

We can't remember the last time 90 percent of the action in Formula One had nothing to do with cars setting timed laps. Yet that's was the situation at the Australian Grand Prix, continuing the antics from a scarcely believable off-season with blow-ups, driver and team absences, a lawsuit, and a clear need for some teams to get down and give us 50 pit stops. Nothing much has changed from a regulation standpoint, and at the front of the field nothing has changed at all. Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas claimed the first position on the grid like someone put a sign on it that read, "Reserved for Mr. Hamilton;" teammate Nico Rosberg was 0.6 behind in second, Felipe Massa in the Williams was 1.4 seconds back in third. Sebastian Vettel proved that Ferrari didn't do another Groundhog Day routine this off-season, slotting into fourth. His teammate Kimi Raikkonen was not even four-hundredths of a second behind, ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the second Williams, Daniel Ricciardo in the first Infiniti Red Bull Racing, and rookie Carlos Sainz, Jr. in the first Toro Rosso. Lotus, now powered by Mercedes, got both cars into the top ten with Romain Grosjean in ninth, Pastor Maldonado in the final spot. However, even though the regulations are almost all carryover, in actual fact, everything has changed this year. Mercedes is even faster. Renault is even worse. Ferrari and Lotus are a lot better. Toro Rosso is looking like anything but a junior team. And McLaren is – well, let's not even get into that yet. Furthermore, this weekend was shambles: 15 cars started the race, the smallest naturally-occurring grid since 1963. Manor couldn't get its cars ready before qualifying. Bottas had to pull out after qualifying when he tore a disc in his back and couldn't pass the medical clearance tests. The gearbox in Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull gave out on the lap from the pit to the grid, and to give misery some company, the Honda in Kevin Magnussen's McLaren blew up on the same lap. When the lights went out, Hamilton ran away and was more than a second ahead of his teammate at the end of Lap 1. The advantage disappeared, though, because behind him, at the first corner, we got our first pile-up. As Raikkonen drove around the outside of Vettel at the right-hand Turn 1 it looked like Vettel, going over the kerbing, hopped to his left and bounced into Raikkonen.

Ferrari shows California with unique upholstery at Goodwood

Order up a new Ferrari and you can get it just about any way you want it. That's what the company's Tailor Made program is all about. And it's showcasing some of the possibilities at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend with the unique cabrio you see here. This one-of-a-kind Ferrari California T has been done up in a special blue and white livery. Its three-layer Bianco Italia paintjob is overlaid with a pair of offset blue stripes, complimented by a set of 20-inch alloys in blue and silver. The interior is similarly done up in blue and white, but it's the material with which that's done that's the most interesting bit. Maranello has upholstered and trimmed the interior of this particular California with a new high-tech material called Mycro Prestige. It's less than a millimeter thick and weighs only a third of what the leather would, but it's flameproof and water resistant while being porous and breathable. Sort of like Alcantara, but more advanced. Of course these are only some of the options Ferrari can offer through its Tailor Made program. Clients are set up with their own personal designer who'll walk them through the endless choices available through three collections, dubbed Scuderia, Classica and Inedita, the latter offering the most out-there choices. So if what you really want is a Prancing Horse swathed in cashmere or denim, Ferrari will be only too glad to oblige your open checkbook. Related Video: "TAILOR MADE" FERRARI CALIFORNIA T SHOWCASES NEW LIGHTWEIGHT MYCRO PRESTIGE FABRIC Maranello, 24 June 2015. Ferrari will be showcasing a very special "Tailor Made" California T at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, inspired by the passion and colours of Polo and Horse racing. The California T encapsulates the ethos of personalisation, with a Bianco Italia three-layer exterior with a double-asymmetric stripe in Blu Hellen mirrored by a sumptuous Blu Sterling interior with Bianco elements and highlights. The car is finished off with 20" forged wheels which have been painted in Blu Hellen and Argento Nurburgring. This particular California T showcases a new high-tech "Mycro Prestige" fabric material that has been specifically made exclusively for Ferrari. Mycro Prestige is a highly resistant material that offers an exceptional level of grip, and, thanks to its unique mixture of fibres which are only 0.7mm thick, it is only one-third the weight of traditional leather.