F1 Trans + Challenge Rr Grill + Scuderia Shields + Yellow Calipers on 2040-cars

Auto blog

$80M Ferrari deal would make Vettel world's highest-paid sportsman

Formula One is in for a big shakeup next season, as the only two multiple World Champions on the grid are kicking off a game of musical chairs. Just who will end up where has yet to be figured out, but the overwhelmingly prevailing wisdom has Sebastian Vettel, who has already announced his departure from Red Bull, inking a contract with Ferrari worth 150 million pounds sterling for three years - that works out to over $80 million per year.
If the reports are true, that would make Vettel (pictured above with his assumed new teammate Kimi Raikkonen) the highest-salaried sportsman in the world. Compared to Vettel's rumored $80 million/year, soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo was paid $52 million last year and NFL quarterback Matt Ryan got $42 million, just ahead of soccer player Lionel Messi at $41.7 million. Boxer Floyd Mayweather was reportedly paid a whopping $100 million last year, but that's based on how many fights he fights and wins, putting him on a different earnings spectrum.
Those figures are also just for salaries, and do not include sponsorship and endorsement deals - and therein may lie part of the reason for Vettel's reportedly stratospheric salary. In addition to his salary from the Red Bull team with which he's won four World Championships, Vettel also pulls in a large retainer from Infiniti, which sponsors both the team and himself personally. In departing Red Bull, he'd undoubtedly have to sever the tie with Infiniti as well.

Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa reportedly stepping down [UPDATE]

Update: In a statement to Autoblog, Ferrari USA predictably responded: "We do not comment on rumors. There is no announcement at this time." Rumors are currently swirling in the European media that Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa (pictured above) is stepping down from his position at the Prancing Horse. An exact timeframe isn't clear at this time. Motori Online from Italy indicates Felisa might not leave the company until September, whereas Autocar reports that he has already resigned from the Italian automaker. Autoblog has reached out to Ferrari for clarification, but the Maranello-based firm has not yet officially confirmed any of this speculation. Felisa has been the company's CEO since 2008 when Jean Todt stepped down. He joined Ferrari in 1990 as the director of product development and became general manager there in 2006. Felisa was also among people thought possible to take the role as chairman when Luca di Montezemolo left the Prancing Horse last year. Sergio Marchionne retained that role. If these rumors prove true, Felisa's departure would be the biggest corporate shakeup at Maranello since di Montezemolo's departure. The move would also come at a time that's not particularly pleasant for Ferrari or its corporate parent. Marchionne recently indicated that the Prancing Horse was just days away from filing the prospectus for its imminent initial public offering. The Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executive had previously put Ferrari's value at around $11 billion. So far, all we have are rumors and reports, but as soon as we know more, so will you. Stay tuned.

Race Recap: 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix is racing like you dream about

Well. What a race.
The first line of last year's Bahrain Grand Prix recap was, "The sand, the wind, the penalties, the contact and the one crash - all of them collided to make the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix a surprise affair from day to day and lap to lap." This year the sand stayed mostly off the track and the wind limited its gusts to the back side around Turn 11, but everything else carried over into this 2014 F1 season.
There were penalties issued, penalties given, contact from the first lap and an astonishing crash that made the race even more exciting than it already was. Or rather, two races, because the Mercedes AMG Petronas cars are so good - and both their drivers are so good - that every pilot is still racing for third unless one of The Silver Arrows trips up. But even the race for third was riveting. As well as that for fourth, fifth, sixth, and every position back to about eleventh, all through the race. At times it seemed like the producers were so unused to having to follow actual on-track passing that they weren't sure which camera to switch to; there was so much action for all 57 laps, sometimes two or three passing moves on the same lap to go along with the close racing throughout, that we saw more passes in replays than live.