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What next for Stefano Domenicali?

Ferrari is a team that's used to being on top. It does, after all, have more world championships to its name - 15 drivers' titles and 16 constructors' - than any other team in the history of Formula One racing. But despite having some of the best drivers and resources at its disposal, it hasn't won a championship in over five years. Someone had to take the blame for that, and that someone turned out to be Stefano Domenicali.
The team principal who took over after Jean Todt stepped back to focus first on the running of the entire company and then the FIA, Domenicali has presided over the driest spell in the team's history since Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn arrived in the late 90s to bring Ferrari back to its winning form. Whether that ultimately proves to have been Domenicali's fault or not, the buck stopped on his desk and he resigned a couple of weeks ago, making way for Ferrari's North American chief Marco Mattiacci to take the reins. At least for now, anyway, as rumors circulate of a longer-term solution that could bring Ross Brawn back into the fold following his recent departure from Mercedes.
The big question now, however, is what Domenicali will do next. The latest intel suggests that he could leave four wheels behind but stay in the field of competitive sports to coach an Italian basketball team. The rumors are fueled by reports that Domenicali has been in touch with Giovanni Petrucci, head of the Federazione Italiana Pallacanestro - Italy's national basketball federation. The organization runs two professional basketball leagues within Italy as well as its national team that's won eight international championships, two gold, four silver and four bronze medals in the European league and two silver medals in the Olympics.

Ferrari vs. Ferrari: Cut convertibles unloved by collectors?

The New York Times' Wheels blog has a really interesting story on a pair of Ferraris that are set to be auctioned off in Monterey during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. While the two cars are similar on the surface, their differing histories and Ferrari's attitude towards one of them has led to a sort of experimental auction process.
On the one hand, we have one of ten 1967 275 GTB/4 NART Spiders, in the classic Rosso Corsa and appearing at RM Auctions and seen above. On the other, we have a Fly Yellow version that started life as a 1965 275 GTB Coupe, and was converted into a NART Spider. Called a "cut" car, this particular replica is one of about 100 GTB Coupes that were converted into convertibles to satiate the climbing demand for ultra-rare Spiders.
This will mark one of the first times that an original NART Spider will go toe to toe with a replica of itself at auction, and will answer a number of questions about just how important provenance is in the collector car world. Head on over to The Times blog for the full story.

New Tesla, McLaren, and Ferrari models added to Takata recall list

UPDATE: A McLaren spokesperson confirmed to Autoblog that "a number" of McLaren models in the US, Japan, and South Korea will be recalled to fix non-dessicated airbag inflators. However, the recall only affects passenger airbags, as all driver's-side inflators use a different technology and are not affected. The timeline is still being determined. It's been more than two and a half years since the Takata airbag recall first made waves. Despite knowing which airbags were at fault and the exact cause of the failure, manufacturers like Audi, Ferrari, McLaren, and Tesla have been building and selling cars with defective airbags. Although it takes several years for the airbag to degrade to the point of failure, all of these new cars will eventually have to be recalled for replacements. It appears that time has come, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has now issued a recall on some of these new models. Models from Tesla and McLaren have been added to NHTSA's recall list for the first time. Tesla is recalling every 2012 - 2016 Model S while McLaren is bringing back every model it's made since relaunching its road-car business in 2012. Not even the P1 is free from failure. Other automakers have expanded their affected-vehicle list. All of Ferrari's 2016 - 2017 lineup now falls under the recall and joins a number of previously recalled models, while Audi is recalling the 2017 R8. Since the recall started, dozens of automakers have recalled millions of affected cars to replace potentially fatal and highly flawed airbags that can deploy bits of metal at occupants. Eleven deaths in the United States are directly related to the faulty airbags. Before the recall, Takata held a sizable share of the airbag market. When the failures began to occur, some automakers were left with no alternative suppliers. As it takes a few years for the airbags to fail, automakers without other options faced a choice: they could either build cars that would be recalled in the future or stop building cars altogether until a secondary supplier could be found. These recalls seem to be happening so frequently that owners may not know what to do or where to check to see if their car is potentially affected. NHTSA is keeping a comprehensive list of all affected models. Their website can help owners determine if they have a potentially problematic airbag installed and the steps to take to replace it.