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Kimi out, Bottas in at Ferrari?

Things have not gone well for Scuderia Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen since he returned to the team in 2014. After a pair of strong seasons for Lotus that saw him finish third and fifth, the Finn ended last season in 12th, 106 points behind his teammate, Spaniard Fernando Alonso. His 2015 fortunes have improved – he currently sits in fourth, only a spot behind teammate Sebastian Vettel – but he's been remarkably inconsistent, struggling with the SF15-T, a car that was specifically designed to work with his driving style. He only has a single podium this season, was forced to retire in Australia after a bad pitstop, and he crashed out of the most recent round in Austria. Clearly, Kimi should just stay away from races starting in "Austr." That advice may have come too late, though, as rumors are bubbling up that Ferrari may be swapping its Finns, dropping Raikkonen for his young countryman, Valtteri Bottas. Fox News, citing a report from Germany's Bild, claims Ferrari has made an offer to Bottas' current team, Williams, to secure his services. It doesn't sound like the British team will give him up all that easily, though. According to Fox, Williams enjoys a contractual "option" on the 25-year-old Finn's contract for next season, and that Ferrari would need to buy that contract out to steal him away. Bild claims the Italians have offered $4.4 million, but Williams' second-in-command, Claire Williams, wants nearly four times that. Ferrari has, rejected that figure, allegedly and unsurprisingly. Should the two sides come to a compromise, German and Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg seems to be the popular choice to take the open Williams seat, Fox is reporting. It's unclear where Raikkonen would end up next. And with that, we consider the 2015 Formula 1 silly season officially open.

FCA launches Ferrari IPO

It's been a long time coming, but the moment is finally upon us: Ferrari is hitting the stock market. Its parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has announced the launch of Ferrari's initial public offering – almost exactly a year to the day since FCA launched its IPO (pictured above). And with it, FCA is starting the process of separating the Maranello-based exotic automaker and racing team away from the rest of the Italian-American industrial empire. The plan filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calls for FCA – which owns 90 percent of Ferrari – to float 17,175,000 common shares on the New York Stock Exchange. That amounts to nine percent of Ferrari's common shares. Another 1,717,150 common shares (equal to 1 percent) will be offered to the underwriters of the IPO. The remaining 80 percent interest in the Prancing Horse company will be separated from the rest of FCA and distributed to the parent company's shareholders – of which Exor, the Agnelli/Elkann family's holding company, is the largest, holding a stake of about 30 percent. Currently registered as New Business Netherlands NV, the company is soon to be renamed Ferrari NV. And while it's nominally based, like its (soon to be former) parent company, in the Netherlands, there's no reason to anticipate at this point that Ferrari will move its operating headquarters away from its current and historic home in Maranello, on the outskirts of Modena in Italy's "supercar valley." The IPO is expected to be priced at or around $50 per share (give or take a couple of bucks), which would value the company at around $10 billion. Trading won't actually commence, however, until all the SEC filings are complete. At that point, the company will be listed on the NYSE under the symbol RACE. And whether you yourself are actually interested in trading in Ferrari shares or not, that could be one of the best parts of the announcement. FCA Announces Launch of Ferrari Initial Public Offering LONDON, October 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU / MI: FCA) ("FCA") and its subsidiary New Business Netherlands N.V. to be renamed Ferrari N.V. ("Ferrari") announce today that Ferrari has launched its initial public offering ("IPO").

Jock Clear, Lewis Hamilton's race engineer at Mercedes, moves to Ferrari

The HR office at the Ferrari Formula One team has been exceptionally busy this year, and the churn hasn't ceased. Just this month under new team principal Mauricio Arrivabene – the third team principal in 2014 – lead designer Nikolas Tombazis and engineering director Pat Fry were let go, and tire performance expert Hirohide Hamashima will leave the team at the end of the year. Now there's another batch of HR paperwork to be completed, but this is a new hire to join Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Gutierrez: Jock Clear, Lewis Hamilton's performance engineer this season at Mercedes AMG Petronas. Clear will take over Pat Fry's vacant role as head of engineering, and brings a Driver's World Championship pedigree with him, having helped Hamilton to his second title and Jacques Villeneuve to his sole title in 1997 with Williams. He hasn't joined the Scuderia yet, though; Ferrari is still negotiating with Mercedes to "secure his services as soon as possible." Clear will work in a totally revamped engineering department and report to technical director and ex-Lotus F1 man James Allison. The last time Ferrari went an entire season without a win was 1993. The team has attempted to hedge expectations for 2015, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne saying, "I think hopefully within the next 12 months we will remove all the baggage of uncertainty that is going to plague at least the initial phase of 2015." Hope springs yet, though: when Arrivabene was asked what he'd be happy with next year, he said, "two or three wins." News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Motorsports Ferrari F1