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Bertone's shark-nose Ferrari 250 set to break records

If Nuccio Bertone had one regret, it's that he didn't get to work more with Ferrari. "They have always been with Pininfarina," Bertone was quoted as saying toward the end of his career. "I would have liked to have done more for Ferrari." There were a few exceptions, like the atypical Dino GT4, the angular Rainbow concept of 1976, and the unique 250 GT you see here. Only this one wasn't just designed and crafted by Bertone – it was designed and crafted for Bertone. And now it's going up for auction. Inspired by the 156 Grand Prix racer, this one-of-a-kind 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta was commissioned by Bertone to showcase its capabilities at the Geneva and Turin motor shows that year, and to serve as Nuccio's personal wheels. The design was carried out by none other than Giorgetto Giugiaro, in close collaboration with Bertone, and is characterized by the shark nose that would look right at home on a week-long Discovery Channel special... if it were directed by Roberto Rossellini. It's painted in Blu Notte Metallizzato (Italian for "midnight blue metallic") with a rich burgundy leather interior. The only one of its kind, chassis 3269 GT has been part of the Lorenzo Zambrano collection for over three decades now. It's slated to cross the auction block for the first time next month at Pebble Beach. That's where Gooding & Company expects it will fetch around $15 million, which would (according to the archives at Sports Car Market) make it one of the most expensive Ferraris, and by some margin the highest-priced 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, ever sold at auction. 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Speciale (Estimate $14,000,000-$16,000,000) Any coachbuilt Ferrari will stir excitement on the auction block, but 3269 GT is quite possibly the most important 250 GT SWB ever to be presented at public auction. Built for and personally owned by Nuccio Bertone to showcase his company at the Geneva and Torino Auto Shows in 1962, this one-off "sharknose" Berlinetta Speciale Ferrari is sure to electrify the Pebble Beach Auctions when Gooding & Company presents this Italian masterpiece in August. This unique Ferrari was one of the first cars penned by the well-known stylist, Giorgetto Giugiaro, while working for Nuccio Bertone. The two worked together to create one of the most viscerally moving designs in Ferrari's history, which was inspired by the world championship-winning Grand Prix car - the Ferrari 156 F1.

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

2015 Japanese Grand Prix is a little Mercedes, a lot of zen

Just one week on from the issues in Singapore Mercedes-AMG Petronas appeared to have solved its clamp problems and everything else. Daniil Kvyat at Infiniti Red Bull Racing took the two Free Practice scalps on Friday, but when it came time for qualifying the front of the grid looked really familiar: Mercedes' Nico Rosberg took his second pole position of the season, Lewis Hamilton next to him in second. Kvyat had a hand in that, too, the Russian getting into a big accident in Q3 when he put two wheels on the grass heading into the hairpin and veered into the tire wall so hard that he flipped. That ended qualifying before a number of drivers had a chance to improve their times, Hamilton among them. That's how Valtteri Bottas got in third for Willliams ahead of Sebastian Vettel fourth for Ferrari. Felipe Massa had the second Williams in fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo lined up sixth for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, a team we're going to have to enjoy watching for the rest of the season since it might not exist come 2016. Romain Grosjean gave Lotus some good news by getting into eighth, the team so strapped for cash that it couldn't get into its hospitality area, so it held press conferences outside and ate at Bernie Ecclestone's Paddock Club. Sergio Perez took ninth for Sahara Force India, and Kvyat slotted into tenth after not setting a time. The Russsian's race would begin from the pit lane once his mechanics rebuilt his car. It wouldn't be a Formula One start lately without someone at the front having clutch problems. This time it was pole man Rosberg, whose power unit got too hot and put him a few horsepower down on Hamilton through Turns 1 and 2. That's half of how Hamilton took the lead from the lights going out, and the Brit kept it throughout the race. Rosberg, however, said his race was lost when Hamilton pushed him wide through Turn 2, a move Hamilton defended. Rosberg finished almost 19 seconds behind his teammate, a gap that probably isn't fully explained by that opening incident. Hamilton's race was so uneventful that we almost never saw him on camera – that is, we saw him so much less than we usually see him when he's out in front and unpressured that Nikki Lauda said he'd ask Ecclestone why the cameras avoided him. The conspiracy theory holds that FOM was punishing Mercedes for not supplying Red Bull with engines next year.