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McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari call for unfreezing F1 engines

Formula One is a hugely expensive sport. Not only do you have enormous salaries and logistical expenses, as you would in any other sport, but each team also spends huge sums developing their own chassis from the ground up – and so too do the participating automakers in developing the engines. One of the ways the series organizers mitigate those costs is by freezing development. So once the new crop of V6 turbo hybrid powertrains were developed, that was it. But now three of the of the sport's leading teams are calling on the FIA to unfreeze engine development. Their reason? Unfair advantage. There's little question that Mercedes did the best job of developing its "power unit" to meet the new regulations that took effect at the beginning of this past season. That's how the Mercedes team won all but three of the grands prix this season and finished with at least one car on the podium at every single race. It's also a big part of how the teams that bought their engines from Mercedes this season managed to consistently outperform the other non-works-supported teams. That clear advantage is why Red Bull, Ferrari and now McLaren are calling for engine development to be unfrozen. Their argument is that, under the current locked-down status quo, their engine suppliers (Renault, Ferrari and Honda, respectively) cannot possibly catch up. So unless the FIA and Formula One Management want the next few seasons to be the kind of absolute blow-outs that this past season was, these leading teams argue, the powers that be are going to have to make some changes. For its part, Mercedes naturally counters that unfreezing engine development would send costs spiraling out of control. But then of course it stands to lose the most by re-opening engine development. If those three teams, however, closely intertwined as they are with the three other engine suppliers participating in next year's championship, manage to solicit enough support from the other customer teams and bring the matter to a vote, Mercedes may very well find itself out-numbered. News Source: ESPNImage Credit: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Motorsports Ferrari McLaren Mercedes-Benz F1 engine

Giancarlo Fisichella joins fellow former F1 drivers in United SportsCar Championship

In business or in politics, those driven by their careers typically aim for the highest position they can get to, and after they're done there, they typically retire. But not in motor racing. With an expiration date hovering in their mid-30s at best, Formula One drivers typically seek out other racing series to compete in once they've outlived their career on the grand prix circuit. And there is no lack of racing disciplines that are glad to welcome them in with open arms as motor racing royalty. With the calendar announced and the teams lined up, the roster of drivers is taking shape for the inaugural United SportsCar Championship. And while there hasn't been a large number of former F1 drivers – much less grand prix winners – lining up for the series, there have been some. Risi Competizione, the team that typically fields Ferrari entrants in American GT racing, has just announced that Giancarlo Fisichella will be driving for them in the United SportsCar Championship this season. The veteran of 231 grands prix has driven for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. In the case of the latter, he filled in for an injured Felipe Massa, and remains a Ferrari factory driver. Over the course of his fourteen years on the grid, he won three grands prix and landed on the podium 19 times. That makes Fisichella, who just turned 41 on Tuesday, the most accomplished former F1 driver to sign on for the American series, but he's not the only one. Other drivers already lined up include David Brabham, Max Papis and Christian Fittipaldi – each of whom contested a handful of grands prix in the 1990s – as well as Sebastian Bourdais, who drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso after dominating in Champ Cars for four years and left F1 in 2009 along with Fisichella, who currently looks to be the only driver lined up for this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona who's won a grand prix or even scored a podium finish. While Brabham, Papis, Fittipaldi and Bourdais will all be driving in the top-tier Prototype class, Fisichella will be trying to make his mark in the GTLM class. We'll be watching to see whether he can add that trophy to the class titles he's already accrued in the Le Mans Series, the World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans itself in the five years since leaving F1.

Ferrari unwraps radical new F12 TdF

The Ferrari F12 Berlinetta has never been in need of a performance boost, but Maranello has given it one just the same. Feast your eyes on the new F12 TdF. The latest Prancing Horse recalls the legendary Tour de France (for automobiles, not bicycles) that Ferrari dominated nine years running from 1956 through 1964 – and the elegant long-wheelbase 250 GT named in its honor. But the F12 TdF is much more about forward momentum than looking back. Power is up, weight is down, and everything's been tightened up, with new systems on board to keep it all together. For starters, the screaming 6.3-liter V12 from the existing F12 Berlinetta has been upgraded from 730 horsepower to 769. Torque has been increased from 509 pound-feet to 520. Although the engine will wail all the way up to 8,900 rpm, 80 percent of that torque is available as low as just 2,500 revs. Of course, Ferrari being Ferrari, it didn't just tinker with the engine and call it a day. It also returned the seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions to deliver upshifts 30 percent faster, downshifts 40 percent faster, and with ratios six percent shorter. The track is wider, the wheels larger, and the one-piece brakes are lifted out of the even more extreme LaFerrari. Ferrari has also fitted the TdF with a new Virtual Short Wheelbase system – Modenese for four-wheel steering – that sharpens turn-in, increases high-speed stability, and keeps the tail from spinning around to fast on the wider front tires. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. As you can see, the bodywork has been substantially redone as well, to be both lighter and more aerodynamically efficient. As a result, the TdF produces 87 percent more downforce than the stock Berlinetta. And thanks to its more extensive use of carbon fiber – not to mention the stripped-out cabin – the whole thing weighs a good 240 pounds less. The result of all these enhancements, Ferrari says, is a 0-62 time of just 2.9 seconds. Keep the throttle pegged (as you would most certainly be tempted to do) and it'll reach 124 miles per hour after 7.9 seconds, topping out at over 211 mph. It's also been clocked around the company's private, on-site Fiorano test track in 1 minute and 21 seconds, which is a good two seconds faster than the Berlinetta or the 488 GTB – and barely more than a second adrift of LaFerrari, the fastest road car ever to lap the circuit.