1988 Ferrari 3.2 Mondial Qv Coupe One California Owner on 2040-cars

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Despite early struggles, Ferrari F1 still has Mercedes in its sights

It would be an understatement to say that Ferrari has not had the opening to the 2016 Formula 1 season that it had hoped for. Having come in to the new campaign brazen about wanting a winning start, that Mercedes has taken all the poles and all race victories so far has come as a disappointment. There have been other headaches too – including reliability problems for both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, and of course the points lost with the China/Russia incidents with Daniil Kvyat. But perhaps of more concern is that the trend of performance has not pointed towards a narrowing of the gap between Mercedes and Ferrari – as the Silver Arrows advantage seemed greater than it had been any point this season in Russia. So with the results against it, and it seemingly having no response in pace terms, the cynics are already suggesting that it is game over for Ferrari's 2016 title ambitions. But that is not how Maranello itself sees the situation: and it still has reason to believe not only that there is plenty to play for this season: but that it can take the fight to Mercedes. Pressure game Ferrari is well aware that it needs to quickly make up lost ground in both championship standings (Mercedes has more than double its point haul) and pace terms. But rather than be downbeat about what has happened, team principal Maurizio Arrivabene still senses opportunities: especially with Mercedes appearing to be on the edge in reliability terms. And it this area that he thinks needs to be exploited to give Ferrari the opening it needs. "If you have before you a team that has won four races out of four, you cannot but take note that they are very strong," he said after the Russian Grand Prix. "But if we look at what happened to [Lewis] Hamilton [with engine problems in qualifying], we see that they also have had reliability problems. "We must put pressure on them. That is our first goal. "All their problems have happened on a single car, while ours have happened on both. But there are still 17 races to go, that is something worth emphasising, so there time to make up the difference." Power battle Ferrari introduced an upgraded engine at the Russian Grand Prix that it hoped would lift it closer to Mercedes in the power stakes. But the weekend appeared to show that wasn't the case, with Mercedes' advantage on the Sochi circuit – the fourth most power-sensitive venue on the calendar – appearing bigger than ever.

What I learned after 5,600 miles in a Ferrari F355 Spider

I'm paraphrasing, but Autoblog reader Paul Dyer asked me one day, "Want to drive my 1998 Ferrari F355 Spider from San Jose, California, to me in Newfoundland?" I'm also paraphrasing and leaving out some colorful but unpublishable language, but essentially I said, "Yes." That's how I ended up on a two-week, 5,600-mile road trip, getting an extensive and intimate look at one of the most spectacular cars of our generation. Here's what I discovered. To paraphrase, you don't even know how badly you want an F355. The F355 Spider is the last beautiful Ferrari. Subsequent stallions are modern and dramatic, the F355 is eternally gorgeous, like Brunelleschi's doors and sunsets in Viareggio. The Iliad would still make sense if you said the Greeks took to ship after a Trojan keyed Menelaus' F355. You cannot say the same about the 348, or even the 458 (though we do love it so). This car began the era in which mid-engined Ferraris sell out for years in advance. That said, F355 upkeep is the equivalent of giving your bank account a flesh-eating disease. This car's most recent engine-out service was $28,000: $12,000 in labor, $16,000 in parts. Dropping the Propulsore Completo is recommended every three years for routine service and runs $7,000 or more if no other work is required. Gooey valve guides, melting exhaust manifolds, and cranky seat sensors are among the fickle components that will guarantee the bill will exceed that amount. A single bolt is $45. One F355 owner, asked if he'd recommend the model, replied without hesitation "Absolutely not." But the F355 began a whole new game for The Prancing Horse. One of Luca de Montezemolo's first marks on the company as president, the F355 was intended to rectify the sins of the 348 and deal with the Acura NSX. The F355's design resulted from 1,800 wind tunnel hours. It introduced Ferrari's five-valve V8 engine – at 107.3-horsepower-per-liter, the highest specific output of any naturally aspirated car at the time. It had an 8,500-rpm redline. The engine was so important that Ferrari changed its naming convention to highlight it. The F355 introduced a six-speed manual transmission to the V8 range. It introduced the paddle-shifted sequential gearboxes to consumers, previously the purview of top-tier race cars. This Spider was the brand's first semi-automatic droptop. This car began the era in which mid-engined Ferraris sell out for years in advance. Some of the trademark features take getting used to.

Ferrari still finalizing LaFerrari hardware? [w/videos]

McLaren, Ferrari and Lamborghini helped make this year's Geneva Motor Show one of the most exciting in recent memory, but the LaFerrari might be a little further away from production than its McLaren P1 hypercar rival. According to GTSprit.com, it sounds like Ferrari is still trying to hammer out the the car's details to ensure the lucky 499 souls laying down $1.5 million aren't left in the dust by a brightly colored McLaren.
While it's not clear what sort of things Ferrari is still working on, the continued development aspect is somewhat substantiated by the fact that the 949-horsepower hybrid supercar is still running around Italy wearing camouflage - albeit light camo. As proof of this, the site also found a pair of enthusiastic amateur spy videos that get some good rolling shots of the LaFerrari out testing. They also show how well the car can handle a roundabout. Both videos are posted below.