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2015 Australian Grand Prix all about grooves and trenches [spoilers]

We can't remember the last time 90 percent of the action in Formula One had nothing to do with cars setting timed laps. Yet that's was the situation at the Australian Grand Prix, continuing the antics from a scarcely believable off-season with blow-ups, driver and team absences, a lawsuit, and a clear need for some teams to get down and give us 50 pit stops. Nothing much has changed from a regulation standpoint, and at the front of the field nothing has changed at all. Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas claimed the first position on the grid like someone put a sign on it that read, "Reserved for Mr. Hamilton;" teammate Nico Rosberg was 0.6 behind in second, Felipe Massa in the Williams was 1.4 seconds back in third. Sebastian Vettel proved that Ferrari didn't do another Groundhog Day routine this off-season, slotting into fourth. His teammate Kimi Raikkonen was not even four-hundredths of a second behind, ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the second Williams, Daniel Ricciardo in the first Infiniti Red Bull Racing, and rookie Carlos Sainz, Jr. in the first Toro Rosso. Lotus, now powered by Mercedes, got both cars into the top ten with Romain Grosjean in ninth, Pastor Maldonado in the final spot. However, even though the regulations are almost all carryover, in actual fact, everything has changed this year. Mercedes is even faster. Renault is even worse. Ferrari and Lotus are a lot better. Toro Rosso is looking like anything but a junior team. And McLaren is – well, let's not even get into that yet. Furthermore, this weekend was shambles: 15 cars started the race, the smallest naturally-occurring grid since 1963. Manor couldn't get its cars ready before qualifying. Bottas had to pull out after qualifying when he tore a disc in his back and couldn't pass the medical clearance tests. The gearbox in Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull gave out on the lap from the pit to the grid, and to give misery some company, the Honda in Kevin Magnussen's McLaren blew up on the same lap. When the lights went out, Hamilton ran away and was more than a second ahead of his teammate at the end of Lap 1. The advantage disappeared, though, because behind him, at the first corner, we got our first pile-up. As Raikkonen drove around the outside of Vettel at the right-hand Turn 1 it looked like Vettel, going over the kerbing, hopped to his left and bounced into Raikkonen.

Ferrari to keep CEO Amedeo Felisa post spin-off

Ferrari is undergoing a big shakeup, and not just on the Formula One racing grid. It's just parted ways with its longtime chairman, is being spun off from the rest of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group and will soon launch its initial public offering on the stock market. But one thing it's not about to change at this point is its CEO. Speaking to journalists in Milan this past Friday, FCA chairman John Elkann said, "There will be no CEO change," indicating that the job of chief executive Amedeo Felisa is secure for at least a while longer. After two decades at Alfa Romeo, Felisa joined Ferrari back in 1990, was named general manager in 2006 and chief executive in 2008. In that capacity, he's always reported to company chairman Luca di Montezemolo, whose place was recently taken by Sergio Marchionne. It remains unclear, however, just how directly involved Marchionne will remain in the Prancing Horse marque, especially after the spin-off, and what that would mean for Felisa. In launching the IPO, Ferrari could institute a loyalty scheme that would award additional stake to the company's oldest and largest shareholders – which would only further entrench the holdings of the Agnelli family which Elkann heads and which stands to become the largest stakeholder in Ferrari after its separation from the rest of the group.

Chris Harris wrings out Ferrari F40 and F50 on track

Chris Harris one of the most beloved of British automotive journalists, and yet Ferrari doesn't seem inclined to take him off its black list. Something about having shined the light on the way Maranello sets up its cars for press evaluations, years ago... So the only time the auto scribe and video host we know as Monkey gets his hands on a Prancing Horse-emblazoned steering wheel is when a private owner offers Harris a drive. Fortunately, that seems to happen all the time, but rarely in such a fashion as it has for this latest video.
Here the owner of not only an F40 but also its successor the F50 has lent Harris both of his anniversary-edition Ferrari supercars and insisted that he drive them aggressively. So off they went to the Anglesey circuit in Wales to see how these precursors to the Enzo and LaFerrari fare alongside one another decades after they first hit the road.