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Ferrari's Vettel sets lap record and take pole position for Chinese Grand Prix

SHANGHAI – Ferrari made Formula One rivals sit up and take notice after an ominous show of speed in qualifying for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix. World championship leader Sebastian Vettel took pole position with a lap more than half a second faster than that of Valtteri Bottas, the fastest of the two Mercedes drivers in third place. The German's best time of one minute, 31.095 seconds – a Shanghai circuit record – turned up the heat on a chilly afternoon with Finnish team mate Kimi Raikkonen joining him on the front row. "We thought coming into today that we would be fighting for the pole position," said Bottas, whose reigning champion team mate Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth after aborting his final flying lap. "But it was definitely out of reach today, there was nothing in the lap that we could have gained that much." "I don't know if we can challenge, we're half a second behind today," added Hamilton. "We were quicker in the race in the last race (Bahrain) but they (Ferrari) were able to hold on. They will probably do the same tomorrow." Dominant isn't a word that has been used to describe Ferrari since they chalked up five straight drivers' titles and six consecutive constructors' crowns with Michael Schumacher, but they were imperious on Saturday. The front row lockout was their second in a row after Vettel beat Raikkonen to pole last weekend in Bahrain. "Ferrari were just way too quick," said Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who was fifth fastest but a hefty 0.701 seconds off Vettel's pace. "Somehow they've found a turbo button on the straight because they are really quick and still in the corners they are reasonably quick." Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo added, "Ferrari has had really good pace all weekend and I can't say honestly now that we're going to have their pace tomorrow, but Mercedes definitely look within reach." Ferrari's speed had already stunned rivals after Friday's opening day of practice pointed to a close battle, even if Hamilton was top of the timesheets. With temperatures plunging on Saturday, the scarlet cars seemed to come into their own. Vettel, who holds a 17-point lead over Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton after winning in Australia and Bahrain, is looking good for a hat-trick. No driver has ever won the season's first three races without being crowned champion that year, and the last Ferrari driver to do it was Schumacher in 2004 when he was at the peak of his powers and won the opening five.

Stellantis and Ferrari boss is pitted against his own mother in Agnelli inheritance drama

  MILAN, Italy — A court in Turin is set to rule in the coming weeks on an inheritance dispute dividing the Agnelli family, the founders of the Fiat car company and arguably the best known of Italy's business dynasties. The case stems from the estate of Gianni Agnelli, the celebrated Fiat boss who was a symbol of Italy's post-war economic boom and who died two decades ago. It pits Agnelli's daughter Margherita, who inherited 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), against three of her eight children including her eldest, John Elkann, the chairman of Ferrari and carmaker Stellantis. In the dispute that has riven one of Italy's elite families, Margherita is fighting to overturn agreements she signed after her father's death in order to eventually benefit her five children from a second marriage, sources close to her say. Should the Turin court decide in her favor, Margherita, who is 67 and Gianni Agnelli's only surviving child, could stake a claim to half of her late mother's estate and a share in the Elkann family business. The center of the dispute The dispute has its origins in an inheritance deal known as the "Geneva pacts" that Margherita, an artist and philanthropist, signed in 2004 after the death of her father the previous year and agreed to when Fiat was on the brink of bankruptcy. Under the first pact, Margherita received property, works of art and other liquid assets from Gianni's estate and renounced any future influence in the Dicembre (December) company, a key part of the ownership structure of Exor, the Agnelli-family holding. The pacts cemented John Elkann's position as Gianni Agnelli's chosen successor and effectively took his mother Margherita out of the equation. John Elkann, 47, now leads Exor, which owns slices of prestigious businesses and brands including national newspapers and the soccer club Juventus. The second pact covered what would happen to the estate of Margherita's mother Marella, who died in 2019 aged 91. Marella passed her Dicembre stake to three of her grandchildren, John, his brother Lapo and sister Ginevra, from Margherita's first marriage to journalist Alain Elkann. Margherita wants the pacts to be rescinded to be able to give her children with second husband Serge De Pahlen, a Franco-Russian former Fiat executive, a share of their grandmother's estate, sources close to her say.

Chris Harris enjoys the song of a Ferrari 212

We often see Chris Harris sliding around in the modern elite of supercars, but he eschews every bit of the cutting edge in his latest clip for the opportunity to get behind the wheel of an absolute classic. Harris drives a 1952 Ferrari 212 Barchetta with a body by Touring, and the Italian hills come alive with the sound of this little car's beautiful music. The V12 engine that's nestled under the Barchetta's hood might be short on displacement, but this thing can absolutely roar. It thunders down the road under hard acceleration and then makes a symphony of pops and snaps as the driver downshifts into a corner. You can own this Ferrari, too. RM Auctions is selling it, but the reserve is somewhere between 5 million and 7 million euros ($5.6 million - $7.9 million). Given Harris' proclivity to slide just about anything he drives, do you think he drifts this Barchetta? Watch the video to find out, and it's probably worth turning up the speakers, too.