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Vettel hopes to pull off some Ferrari 'tricks' to end Mercedes F1 dominance

MONTREAL — Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari has a few tricks up its sleeves for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix and will need to conjure up something special if it is to end Mercedes' magical run. Six races into the season, Vettel is not ready to wave the white flag and concede the title to Mercedes, which has racked up six straight wins, five of them with 1-2 finishes. But the German admits the battle had reached a critical juncture. "The next races will be really crucial for us to try and get back to the front and give a much harder time to Mercedes," said Vettel, who finished second in Monaco last month for Ferrari's best result so far this season. "It will be crucial to do it rather sooner than later, but at the moment I am not too fussed, I am not looking at, 'OK this is the date.' "Clearly we are behind, clearly there is a big margin between Mercedes and the rest and we have to lose that gap and get ahead otherwise it will be difficult to turn around. "That is as much realism as you can get."Vettel won from pole position in Canada last year and Mercedes has suggested the high-speed circuit could again favor Italian rivals whose season has yet to get into gear. But Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will like their chances as well on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Hamilton was fastest in Friday's early practice, but damaged his car when he hit the wall in the afternoon. The five-time world champion sits 17 points clear of Bottas at the top of the standings and in his bid to equal Michael Schumacher's seven Canadian Grand Prix victories between 1994 and 2004. Not that Mercedes needed another boost, but Hamilton and Bottas will have new and upgraded engines in their cars for this weekend's race. Ferrari has already introduced its first upgraded powerplants of the season, but Vettel was optimistic tweaks to the car would benefit them on a circuit that plays to some of their strengths. "There is always little tricks you can do, the question is whether they make a difference," Vettel said. "But I am not sitting here trying to paint things black we haven't done a single lap this weekend so I am quite optimistic it was a strong track for us last year. "We have some tricks up our sleeves whether they work or not we will see.

Mick Schumacher in F1 Ferrari test scores second-fastest lap at Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain — Mick Schumacher, son of seven-times world champion Michael, made his Formula One test debut for Ferrari in Bahrain on Tuesday and lapped second fastest behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen. On a surprisingly wet day at the same track where his father won the first grand prix in the Middle East with Ferrari 15 years ago, Schumacher was 0.597 seconds slower than the 21-year-old Dutchman. His time of 1 minute 29.976 seconds was set on the softest, and fastest, C5 tires — softer than anyone else's — and he completed 56 laps on a day where track time was limited by bad weather washing out much of the middle of the day. "I really enjoyed today. It felt like home in the garage from the very first moment with a lot of people that know me since I was very young," he said. The 20-year-old German, who made his Formula Two debut at the Sakhir circuit over the weekend and finished eighth and sixth in the two races, had been top with five minutes remaining before Verstappen went faster. It was still the first time since 2012 that a Schumacher had led an official Formula One time chart. "The SF90 is incredible because of the power it has, but it is also smooth to drive, and that's why I enjoyed myself so much," said Schumacher. "I was impressed by the braking power an F1 car has. It seemed to me you could brake later and later and the car would have made the turn anyway." The reigning European F3 champion will also test with the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo team (formerly Sauber) on Wednesday. Tuesday's test was Mick's first experience of a modern F1 car, although he did drive his father's 1994 title-winning Benetton at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit before the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher, who still holds the record of 91 grand prix wins, won five of his titles with Ferrari in a golden period from 2000 to 2004. He last raced for the team in 2006 before a comeback with Mercedes from 2010-12 and has not been seen in public since he suffered severe head injuries in a skiing accident in the French Alps in December 2013. Mick, who joined the Ferrari academy in January, was the only debutant on track in a rain-hit session that followed Sunday's second grand prix of the season. Lewis Hamilton, Sunday's race winner for Mercedes after Ferrari's Charles Leclerc suffered a late engine problem, was sixth fastest.

Ferrari California T has a turbo V8 lurking under new nose [w/video]

The Ferrari California might technically be the Prancing Horse's entry-level model, but there is nothing basic about the latest upgrade for the California T. Showing its face to the public for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show, it is now propelled by a 3.9-liter, turbocharged V8 with 560 horsepower and 557 pound-feet of torque, which equates to an extra 70 hp and a 49 percent increase in torque over the previous engine.
The forced induction mill is enough to accelerate it to 62 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds. Also not that many Ferrari buyers are going to care, but the switch also means a 15 percent improvement in fuel economy. Oh, and based on the video preview below, it sounds pretty good, too.
While the new engine is certainly the headline grabber, there are other upgrades as well: a top that closes in 14 seconds, new steering box, improved magnetic dampers and an upgraded traction control system. Pininfarina also reshaped the nose to make it more look like Ferraris of the 1960s. This is seems to be the best looking and performing California yet.