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Ferrari celebrates Singapore's independence with special F12

Singapore is marking 50 years of independence this year, and Ferrari is celebrating the occasion with a one-off F12 Berlinetta. The SG50 edition was ordered from the Tailor Made program by Ital Auto, the official Ferrari importer for the Southeast Asian metropolis. The model is distinguished by a special red and white livery that mirrors the colors of the Scuderia and the country's flag. The bodywork is done up in a custom shade of metallic red called (appropriately enough) Rosso Singapore. It's offset by Bianco Italia racing stripes, wheels, wing mirrors, and aero appendages, including the front spoiler, side sills, and rear diffuser. The treatment continues inside the two-seat cockpit with a mix of black leather and technical fabrics, offset by red and white accents and a Singaporean lion emblem on the headrests. The words "Singapore 50th Anniversary Edition 1/1" adorn the sill plate and lower rim of the steering wheel. Of course most of us will never see this particular F12 up close. But until Maranello takes the wraps off the anticipated enhancements for the Berlinetta, this gives us an idea of the possibilities available to buyers of the 12-cylinder super-GT. Related Video:

Ferrari 488 GTE and GT3 unveiled at Mugello

Ferrari is preparing its latest assault on sports car racing with new racing versions of the 488 GTB. Presented over the weekend at Mugello, the lineup includes both GTE and GT3 racers to replace the current models that were based on the 458 Italia. Though little in the way of details were revealed at the vehicles' presentation, the principal change they present over the accomplished versions they replace are their new turbocharged engines. The 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 replaced the 4.5-liter atmospheric V8 in the road-going version, and is now carried over to the race track as well. Output will, of course, be catered to the regulations pertaining to both classes. Not to be confused with the Volkswagen's hybrid lineup, GTE is the category that replaced the previous GT2 class, and with it absorbed the defunct GT1 class, as well. It's run principally at Le Mans and its associated championships, and the outgoing Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 has proven a force to be reckoned with. That car took top honors in its class every year since the inception of the FIA World Endurance Championship, and won its class twice at Le Mans. Its turbo successor will have quite a challenge in keeping up that legacy. The GT3 class, meanwhile, is a step below, running in the Blancpain Endurance Series, Pirelli World Challenge, and the like. Here the teams running Ferrari equipment could use some extra help, and the new 488 GT3 aims to deliver that competitive edge to get ahead of rivals. Those include GT3 racing versions of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Audi R8, Bentley Continental GT, Lamborghini Huracan, McLaren 650S, Mercedes-AMG GT, Nissan GT-R, and Porsche 911 (to name just a handful). Ferrari presented the pair at its end-of-year Finali Mondiali event, which wraps up the various regional Ferrari Challenge series run around the world. This year's was held this weekend at the Mugello circuit in Italy. Last year's was in Abu Dhabi where the FXX K was revealed. The previous year's was also held at Mugello, where the current 458 Challenge Evoluzione was presented. The 2016 event is scheduled to be held in North America for the first time at Daytona the weekend of December 1-4, 2016. With the GTB, Spider, GTE, and GT3 variants now presented, the next step in the fleshing out of the 488 lineup will be to present the new Challenge racer for the company's own spec racing series.

2015 Malaysian F1 GP springs hot, humid surprises [spoilers]

In the two weeks since Australia both Mercedes and Ferrari spoke of the improved performance from their respective cars. In Malaysia, Ferrari showed it. Lewis Hamilton still put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on pole position, but Sebastian Vettel got within two whiskers of the Brit, lining up second just 0.074 behind. Afterward, Vettel said Ferrari could win the race if everything went well. But in qualifying we didn't know how much of Ferrari's performance was truly down to the car and how much was down to the wet weather that struck near the beginning of Q2. The rain didn't hamper Nico Rosberg's run – the German said "I just didn't drive good enough" – and he took third spot in the second Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Showing what the Infiniti Red Bull Racing chassis can do when the power unit is working properly, teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat grabbed fourth and fifth. Whippersnapper Max Verstappen, in his second race, qualified in sixth with an excellent drive through the rain; just 0.030 behind Kvyat, he said he could have got fifth if he hadn't had a running problem with his brakes. Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley said he wouldn't complain about Mercedes' advantage, but Felipe Massa has spent the whole season so far banging the alarm about Ferrari's pace. He says Williams has lost its straight-line advantage, part of the reason the first Grove car is back in seventh, while Valtteri Bottas is in eighth. Between them was Romain Grosjean in the Lotus, but he got dropped two positions for a pit-lane infraction in Q2, so he'll be tenth. Ahead of him is Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber, who would lead the charge to turn in another surprise for the Swiss team. But the real surprise came from the Scuderia Ferrari, who, on a bright, sunny day proved that they don't need to add water for race-winning pace. While Hamilton got made usual awesome start at the lights, Vettel channeled that other famous German Ferrari driver and immediately cut across the track to intimidate Rosberg, maintaining his second place position into the first turn. Arguably the race-winning move came three laps later at that same turn, when Ericsson plunged in too fast and swapped ends, beaching the rear of his Sauber in the gravel trap. The safety car came out when the recovery truck emerged to retrieve the Sauber, and nearly all of the front-runners took to the pits to swap out of the medium tires. Vettel, however, didn't.