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Michael Schumacher's son Mick to test with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo in F1

LONDON — Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, will test with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo in Bahrain next week, the Formula One teams announced on Tuesday. The German, who makes his Formula Two debut in Bahrain this weekend with the Prema team, will test Ferrari's F90 car at the Sakhir circuit on April 2 after the grand prix there. The 19-year-old, who won the European F3 title last year and is a member of Ferrari's young driver academy, will also test Alfa Romeo's new car on the Wednesday. "I am really looking forward to what I'm sure will be a great experience," he said. "But for the moment, I am consciously putting all thoughts of the test to one side, because I am also very much looking forward to competing in my first F2 race and would like to focus 100 percent on the weekend to come." Britain's Callum Ilott, who is also in Formula Two this season and is another Ferrari academy member, will make his F1 test debut with Ferrari-powered Alfa in Barcelona in May after the Spanish Grand Prix. Schumacher's father, who has not been seen in public since suffering severe head injuries in a skiing accident in 2013, won five of his record seven Formula One titles with the Italian team between 2000-04 and holds the record of 91 wins. Ferrari principal Mattia Binotto said the team's current driver Charles Leclerc was proof of the worth of the academy as a high level training program for talented youngsters. "Mick, who joined the FDA in January, and Callum, who has been with us since 2017, are definitely drivers on their way up," he said. "I believe that driving the SF90 in an official setting such as the tests in Bahrain and Barcelona can be very useful at this stage in their career." Motorsports Alfa Romeo Ferrari Racing Vehicles F1 michael schumacher

No electric Ferraris before 2022, says Marchionne

Ferrari is readjusting its electric car timeline. Earlier, the company's chairman Sergio Marchionne had said that an electric Ferrari would be part of its 2018-2022 strategy, but now it seems that the advent of the full-electric era is being pushed into the future. As recently as January's NAIAS show in Detroit, Marchionne stated, "If there's an electric supercar to be built, then Ferrari will be the first." Automotive News reports that Marchionne recalibrated that claim in a company meeting on April 13, saying that a full-electric Ferrari "is not relevant at the moment." If there will be an electric Ferrari, it will be announced after 2022. Earlier than any of that, Marchionne had called an electric Ferrari "an obscene concept," adding, "You would have to shoot me first." It is likelier that Ferrari will keep gasoline engines as part of all its models for now, even if they get boosted by hybrid technology. Marchionne said Ferrari is debating which of its production models will be electrified in the future; earlier in Detroit, he had said that the company's first series production hybrid will debut at the Frankfurt motor show in fall of 2019. There have been limited-edition hybrid Ferraris already, the LaFerrari and its topless Aperta version. Related Video: Image Credit: Autoblog Quebec Rumormill Ferrari Electric Hybrid Supercars Sergio Marchionne ferrari hybrid electric ferrari

Apple announces CarPlay in-car iPhone interface

Apple, maker of tech items like the iPhone, iPad and Mac line of computers, is extending its reach into the automotive market, making a fairly big announcement ahead of the Geneva Motor Show. No, it hasn't bought Tesla (yet). Instead, Apple has announced CarPlay, an all-new means of controlling an iPhone through your car.
Now, this doesn't strike us as some gimmicky thing. It's become increasingly common for automakers to take advantage of the high-speed data streams its customers enjoy on their smartphones in order to integrate navigation, traffic, audio and other infotainment items into a car's touchscreen interface. The Chevrolet Spark and Sonic are two prime examples of this move, using an iPhone's data stream for Siri integration and data for a third-party navigation app.
Owners will be able to plug in their iPhones to their cars via the USB port and gain control of a number of the device's functions, all through a car's touchscreen.