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Petrolicious documents the motorsport-changing Ferrari 512M

Petrolicious has had plenty of beautiful cars and big-time personalities in its videos, but today's interview is sees one of the series' most well known subjects - US Formula 1 commentator David Hobbs.
Hobbs is an accomplished racer, capturing a number of podiums and a pair of class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in addition to short stints in F1 and at the Indianapolis 500. One of his Le Mans runs was behind the wheel of this, the Ferrari 512M, a car that's notable for two things - running a 1971 season that included the 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring and Watkins Glen 6 Hour races. The other thing it's known for? Failing to win a single one of those enduros.
Still, the Ferrari 512 is one of the Italian marques most iconic 1970s racers and Hobbs' example is a proud member of that breed, delivering a delicious 5.0-liter V12 exhaust note that makes this an easy video to sit through.

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

Ferrari hybrids, SUV are in the plan to double earnings by 2022

Italian carmaker aims for core earnings of 2 bln euros by 2022 CEO Marchionne does not rule out smaller engines in the future If true electric supercar is ever made, it will be a Ferrari - CEO Shares rise more than 8 percent after mid-term targets released MILAN — Ferrari is looking to double core earnings to 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) by no later than 2022 and become debt free a year earlier, betting on firm demand for supercars and new launches, including hybrids and an SUV. CEO Sergio Marchionne does not expect to double deliveries, but aims to keep pushing technological boundaries, launch new special editions and expand a customisation program to drive profit margins, which stood at 30 percent last year. Ferrari is also expanding its product range to vehicles that appeal to a larger demographic. Hybrids will be part of the portfolio from 2019, and an SUV is expected to be launched by late 2020. Downsizing engines was a possibility in future as long as Ferrari's uniqueness is preserved, Marchionne said. "We are absolutely convinced that these numbers are doable," Marchionne told analysts on a conference call, adding that profit margins could rise to at least 36 percent by 2022. "The house is firing on all cylinders, we are in a good place." The Italian group's medium-term outlook helped push its shares up more than 8 percent at one point on Thursday. They closed 7.5 percent higher at 103.2 euros. Ferrari's forecast suggests an average annual core earnings growth of 14.1 percent, or 17.9 percent, if it achieves the target a year early, said George Galliers, an analyst at Evercore ISI. "This type of earnings growth is unlikely to be seen by any other automotive OEM over the coming five years," Galliers said. However, he said the stock was not cheap and it remained to be seen if projected growth would be enough to attract investors over the coming months. After being spun off from Fiat Chrysler two years ago, Ferrari has sought to show it can increase profits without the backing of its parent. The group has clocked up several years of record earnings, helped by a number of special edition models. Ferrari reported on Thursday an 18 percent rise in 2017 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to 1.04 billion euros, in line with analysts' expectations and helped by sales of its 12-cylinder models. They include the GTC4Lusso and the 812 Superfast, the company's most powerful model to date.