2003 360 Modena * F1 * 10k Miles * Race Seats * Challenge Grills * Belt Serviced on 2040-cars

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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.

Sebastian Vettel gets to work at Fiorano [w/videos]

He wore a BMW Sauber uniform for his grand prix debut, the colors of Scuderia Toro Rosso for his first win and the Red Bull Racing jumpsuit for his four consecutive world titles. But with the 2014 Formula One season now behind him, Sebastian Vettel is now officially a Ferrari man, and he donned scarlet for the first time this past weekend when he got down to work in Maranello. Aside from meeting with the company's new chairman Sergio Marchionne, the Scuderia's new principal Maurizio Arrivabene and a team of race engineers, Vettel took the F2012 – similar if not the very same one in which his predecessor Fernando Alonso won the Malaysian, European and German grands prix – out onto the company's private test track. He completed a solid 100 laps around Fiorano on Saturday and undertook long sessions driving the virtual F14 T on the sumulator. "It's been a fantastic day to come here," Vettel said of his first day with the team. "The possibility to drive the car and get to know the team was a unique experience.... I'm very much looking forward to the challenge that we took on for the next years." Scope out the photos of Vettel in red in the gallery above and the footage from his first session at Fiorano and first visit to Maranello in the videos below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Sebastian gets down to business in Fiorano Maranello, 2 December – Last Saturday, Sebastian Vettel did his first laps as a Scuderia Ferrari driver, at the wheel of an F2012, at the Fiorano track. The German did around a hundred laps and it wasn't just a case of getting to know the team, the track and the car's systems: after a few cautious runs, he began to push and enjoy himself, even though the damp track meant conditions were tricky with less than optimal grip. In this video, you can see some spectacular highlights from Sebastian's run, from which it's clear that he is a determined character who really can't wait to get down to work alongside Kimi and the team to get the Scuderia back to the top again. ### Vettel: "A special feeling" Maranello, 1 December – This was the first weekend as a Scuderia Ferrari driver for Sebastian Vettel, who has been at Maranello from Saturday until today and has begun his work ahead of the new season.

Man orders LaFerrari for wife, dies before seeing gift delivered [w/video]

Ferrari has been profiling some of the 499 buyers of the LaFerrari in its official magazine, and the latest issue features Austrian-born Swiss artist Cornelia Hagmann. Her husband and Ferrari collector Walter Hagmann ordered a Rosso Corsa example of the supercar for Cornelia, but Walter passed away slightly more than a year ago, before it could be delivered. There's no reason to doubt that, as Ferrari says, her husband's gift is the car closest to her heart. The video above captures some behind-the-scenes moments during the photo shoot for the magazine, and there's a press release below with a few words about the article. We've also included a video below about another Swiss citizen, Ferrari collector, and LaFerrari buyer, Albert Obrist, whose love affair with the brand began when he went to the Grand Prix of Switzerland in 1951. An encounter with an artist and the car closest to her heart Maranello, 2th January 2015 – Cornelia Hagmann is an Austrian-born painter and sculptor that has made Switzerland her home for many years. Her wonderfully rich paintings are mostly of landscapes sumptuous with greenery and flowers. She does, however, have a second great passion: for Ferrari. This enduring fascination was sparked by her late husband, Walter Hagmann, a Swiss businessman and leading Ferrari collector, who unfortunately passed away a little over a year ago before the delivery of the magnificent Rosso Corsa LaFerrari he had ordered as a gift for his wife. In an interview with The Ferrari Official Magazine, Cornelia talks not just about her art but also her love of speed and the Prancing Horse. Plus, of course, her LaFerrari: "It's a real work of art: I could spend hours just staring at it...." This video features a few moments from the photo shoot that accompanies the interview.