British GP: Grandissimo Seb, grandissimo!

Sebastian Vettel doing his signature Egyptian dance

A fabulous drive from both Ferrari drivers result in a victory, 3rd place and an extended lead in both F1 championships.

Saturday

Qualifying was much closer than in Austria, Vettel set an awesome lap early in Q3 but Hamilton improved just a fraction in his home race. He took pole followed by the two Ferraris and Bottas in fourth. Ferrari and Mercedes are now equals in qualifying, which is a fantastic and surprising improvement. The main reason seems to be a redesigned floor.

Sunday

Wheelspin for Lewis immediately sent Vettel into the lead of the race. Bottas passed through as well but when Kimi tried to take advantage of the fan favourite’s poor start, he locked up his wheel into T3, made contact and turned Hamilton around. This mistake cost Kimi a 10 second penalty and that was a fair penalty, Lewis left enough room but he simply locked up and that just happens in racing on the limits. Especially at the start with cold tires.

Vettel controlled his lead over Bottas and made the pitstop at the right time. When Ericcson crashed heavily Vettel made a second stop under Safety Car while Mercedes stayed out. At the green flag the order was Bottas-Vettel-Hamilton-Verstappen-Raïkkönen. Kimi had a fantastic fight with Verstappen for P4, but the Dutchman had a late problem that ended his weekend. Seb had new tires compared to Bottas so he could take on the fight for the win. After a couple risky tries, he managed to pass the Mercedes to take back his lead. Bottas fell back to P4 which meant the end result was Vettel-Hamilton-Raïkkönen.

A Ferrari win, a double podium, an increased lead in the Driver championship for Vettel and an increased lead in the constructors championship for Scuderia Ferrari. Silverstone was a success, will Hockenheim be as kind?

Austrian GP: Double Ferrari podium after messy start!

Kimi Räikkönen finished second at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix

The Austrian Grand Prix was an unexpected thriller, mechanical problems at Mercedes opened up oppurtunities for a surprising result. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the race at the team’s home track in front of many Dutch fans. Kimi was 2nd and Seb 3rd.

Saturday

Qualifying was a Mercedes party, as Bottas set a new track record and then improved again while Hamilton was just a fraction slower. Vettel got penalised for blocking Sainz in Q2 (a team error) and was moved from P3 to a challenging P6. Kimi inherited the P3 starting position.

Sunday

The race start was exciting, Bottas had a poor launch while Hamilton positioned himself on the inside for Turn 1. Kimi had a great start and squuezed himself in a Mercedes sandwich but lost out while fighting Hamilton on the outside of Turn 3. He later dropped to 4th after a light tap from Max Verstappen. Seb ran wide at turn 1 and lost a few places.

The race got turned around when Bottas parked his broken Mercedes and caused a VSC. Both Red Bull and Ferrari pitted but Hamilton didn’t, which meant he had to pit under green flag conditions and lost 3 places. Drama didn’t end there, as the tires started to crumble in the hot conditions. Kimi passed a struggling Ricciardo and later pitted for fresh rubber. Vettel passed a disappointed Hamilton for 4th, who later retired from the race.

This meant a double Mercedes DNF and just like in Spain 2016, Verstappen won followed by Raïkkönen and Vettel. Ricciardo also retired which meant the “best of the rest” battle was for P4! This was taken by the Haas Team in their best result yet. A stunning drive once again from Charles Leclerc, who recovered from an early mistake through the gravel to take P9 in his Alfa Sauber. This GP will be remembered!

This is why Ferrari should build an SUV

The automotive industry changed a lot the past few years. There’s the obvious change from petrol fuelled cars to electric cars, but a slightly less notable switch-up is the growing SUV-segment. Some might say it’s a shame there are so many examples on the current market. We have different thoughts about this matter.

But first, a bit of history

In the 1970s, Land Rover was the leading manufacture of sports utility vehicle. Other popular SUV’s at the time were the Mercedes G-Wagon and Toyota Land Cruiser, but you can state Land Rover was the unchallenged player in the segment. SUV’s were intended for off-road stuff but that changed drastically when luxury SUV’s came onto the market.

One of the first cars in this particular segment was the Cadillac Escalade (1998). The Porsche Cayenne (2002) was a pretty big player in this segment as well. Although received with a mixed feeling, the public started to appreciate the excellent handling and V8-engines.

What would Enzo think?

Both Enzo Ferrari and former CEO Luca di Montezemelo were strongly against the idea of a Ferrari SUV. Montezemelo even told the press he’d rather get shot than building an SUV. Purist would agree with both Ferrari and Montezemelo.

The current CEO, Sergio Marchionne, stated that Ferrari is looking at producing a crossover that would fit in the current range of cars and more important, would fit in the history of the brand. ‘’Ferrari has been known historically to be able to redefine and define segments of the auto space.’’

Why Ferrari should build an SUV

It might come as a surprise we’d like to see an FUV from Maranello, but in our opinion it would be a great opportunity for Ferrari. Just look at brands like Porsche and Bentley. The Cayenne and Macan are the company’s best-selling models of recent years, sales figures of 2016 even show that 68% of the worldwide sales were of these two cars. As for Bentley, 50% of the Bentayga buyers are first time Bentley owners.

There’s a huge demand for luxurious SUV’s, even Rolls-Royce, Maserati and Lamborghini are offering one, it’s too hard for Ferrari to ignore the success of having an SUV in your line-up. There’s no doubt it’ll become a success and the money earned could be invested in, arguably, more exciting projects such as the Formula 1 and general development of road cars.

To reach Sergio Marchionne’s main goal of building 10.000 cars a year, Ferrari needs a bestseller. Since loads of other luxury car makers are introducing a FUV this is the way to go.

It would be interesting to see how the GTC4Lusso and the FUV would internally compete. Which would you prefer? The Ferrari GTC4Lusso or the FUV?

Wondering Wednesday is a two-monthly column where we explain the many unclear subjects in the World of Ferrari.

This $100 million Ferrari lives in a flea market

Florida is a land of incongruity, where high and low cultures rub elbows to the point of romance. So, I guess it’s unsurprising that centered among the farm stands, flickering neon signs, cheap wigs and chintzy jewelry of Ft. Lauderdale’s sprawling Swap Shop stands one of the world’s greatest supercar collections, amassed over decades by the late racer and entrepreneur Preston Henn.

Photography: Christian Cipriani

Beauty in Unexpected Places

It’s hard to imagine a more outlandish setting for such a collection. It should be in a Swiss bunker or a modern glass box, and yet the surroundings are so perfectly Florida. The museum is a ramshackle dump with crumbling drop-ceilings and free admission to draw people in so they can spend a few bucks on cell phone cases and fast food.

Among the many admirable cars on display are four of the five anniversary Ferraris. Just before he died – as the story goes – Henn sent Ferrari a $1 million down-payment and a letter asking to buy the LaFerrari Aperta. They returned his check uncashed with a polite “no.” Insulted, he filed an international defamation suit. Again, Florida.

A Nine-Figure Automobile?

The crown jewel of Henn’s collection is an unassuming aluminum yellow racer situated near a Chinese food stall, one floor down from the arcade where teenagers with face tattoos skip school to shoot at zombies.

Experts believe his 1965 Ferrari 275GTB/C Speciale could be the single most valuable car in the world. If it ever goes to auction, we might see sheiks and oligarchs jockeying the price toward a record-breaking $100 million. Of the three examples built by the legendary Italian coachbuilder Scaglietti, chassis 6885 is the only one to ever see a racetrack.

For perspective, imagine Van Gogh’s “Irises” hanging on the wall of a food court while people sit nearby, oblivious, photographing their lunches…so bizarre is this home for what may be the Holy Grail of collectible autos.

Savoring the Moment

I did the only thing I could do to pay my respects – ordered a pair of two-dollar slices and admired the car from a wire metal picnic table parked under bare fluorescent lights.

Other people with nothing better to do on a Monday afternoon kept passing me, and between mouthfuls of hot pizza I waved them over to explain the importance of the collection, telling them all about the one-of-a-kind 275.

Some were appreciative, but most gave me that “okay, buddy” look and went on their way – the same look I might have given my father if he started going on about the band Chicago. So I ate my lunch quietly, alone, one eye on the Speciale as a steady stream of strangers passed by unaware of the treasure sitting beside them.

Is the F12berlinetta the ultimate all-rounder?

Ferrari F12berlinetta pictured by Diederik Lieftink

During last week’s tour of the Ferrari Club Alphen I got to be a passenger of this Grigio Ferro Metallizzato Ferrari F12berlinetta and it got me wondering: is the F12 the ultimate all-rounder? I think it just might be..

Photography: Diederik Lieftink and Max Lammers

Is it daily usable?

During the tour I got to chat with the owner of the car about his ownership experience. He bought the car in January 2018 and has put over 6000 kilometres (3728 miles) on the clock. Around half of that amount was from a trip to Sweden. He even gets groceries with the car, which obviously shows you can use the F12berlinetta as a daily driver. I can conclude the same from my little experience as a passenger of the car. At low speeds and normal accelerations it feels just like any car, there’s not a lot engine noise in the cabin and the luggage space is surprisingly big.

But, what if you put your foot down?

That’s when the other side of the car begins to show its face, it’s a bit bipolar in a sense. When you start accelerating properly it builds up speed like nothing I had experienced before. The passenger display adds even more thrill to the occasion because you can see speed adding up right in front of you. Remember Ferrari revealed the car in 2012 and it’s already been replaced by the 812 Superfast, so it’s relatively old.

The F12 was the most powerful car of the whole tour (we had a 360 Modena, 360 Spider, 458 Italia and 458 Spider with us). This was even more noticeable when the group got a bit of space to accelerate. We, in the F12, had to wait for a bit till the 360 Spider in front of us made some room. But when the driver put his foot down and got from 65 km/h (40 mph) to 145 km/h (90 mph) in just under four seconds, I realized it can be so much more than just a daily driver.

Verdict?

I honestly think the F12berlinetta could be a great track toy, the grip and handling both felt amazing from the passenger seat. Cannot wait to have my first go in one. To conclude, this is probably the best all-rounder money can buy. There’s enough luggage space, comfort and visibility to use it daily. Enzo Ferrari once said he wants the driver to sh*t his pants when he steps on the gas and it’s true. Put your foot down and the car shows a whole different purpose.

Thanks to the owner for letting me drive shotgun during the second tour of the Ferrari Club Alphen. Very excited for the next tour of this little group of crazy enthusiasts.

Monaco GP: Ferrari takes P2 and P4 on worn out tires

The streets of Monte Carlo provided an interesting battle for the win, as everyone in the top 5 had an issue on the car. Ricciardo had a power unit problem and both Mercedes and Ferrari had their tires worn to shreds.

Saturday

The Red Bull showed incredible speed in Practice, but Max crashed his car and missed qualifying. The pole for Ricciardo, Vettel P2 and Raïkkönen P4.

Sunday

Ricciardo won pole to finish, but it was not easy for him as he suffered a loss of power halfway in the GP. Vettel put him under heavy pressure for the rest of the race but he balanced the lack of power with incredible tire management. Overtaking is nearly impossible in Monaco, and the risk was too big from a championship perspective. Kimi defended his fourth position from Bottas. A deserved win for Red Bull, Seb in second in front of Hamilton. The championship gap is now 14 points.

Canada in 2 weeks time!

Spanish GP & Testing Days: is Ferrari in trouble?

Ferrari fans had a forgetful weekend in Spain, watching both cars struggle in many aspects. Kimi went off track multiple times in Practice and had to retire in the race. Vettel was much slower than usual and got an unlucky strategy call to finish only P4.

Saturday

Mercedes was dominant in qualifying, locking out the front row and leaving the Ferraris on row 2. The sudden change in qualifying speed could be caused by the many updates to the first GP in central Europe. If that’s the only reason, Ferrari has some work to do. Monaco is a unique place, so we’ll have to wait and see in Canada.

Sunday

The Silver Arrows dominance continued in the race, Vettel got the better start and was in P2 for much of the race. But a second pitstop under VSC destroyed the Ferrari podium. Kimi retired with an engine problem, his second of the weekend but he should be clear of grid penalties for the Monaco GP. Mercedes 1-2, Verstappen in 3rd and Vettel P4 at the end of a disappointing F1 weekend. To conclude the bad news, Mercedes now leads the championship.

The teams stayed in Barcelona for 2 days of testing, where Vettel and Ferrari Driver Academy star Antonio Giovinazzi collected some useful data for the team. But no Ferrari was fastest on both testing days.

We stay optimistic ahead of the Monaco GP, where Ferrari scored a 1-2 finish last year!

Azerbaijan GP: Safety Car madness destroys dominant victory

Scuderia Ferrari proved fastest all weekend, Vettel was P1 in saturday practice, later took pole by an impressive margin and cruised away from the pack in the first half of the race. It almost seemed too easy…

Saturday

Pole in Bahrain, pole in China and pole in Baku. Vettel is in great shape when it comes to 1 lap flatout. Is it because of the mysterious paddle? No, it’s not. Nobody knows exactly what it does, but we assume it’s legal since it’s still on the steering wheel. The pole time was set on the first run in Q3, and Seb made a mistake on the second run. Which opened an oppurtunity for Kimi, who delivered the most impressive sector 1 I’ve seen in a long time. He was on his way to pole but lost it in the final corner. A shame for the many Kimi fans, but the powerslide was impressive. Seb on pole, Kimi P6.

Sunday

Oh boy, for the second time in a row I’m lost for words after a Grand Prix. What a crazy season this has been so far. Entertaining for the neutral fan, surely. But from a Ferrari perspective, today was rather painful.

The start was, as expected in the narrow Baku streets, not clean at all. The top 5 got away, Vettel leading. But Ocon turned into Raïkkönen, breaking the Ferrari front wing and launching himself into the wall. Sirotkin got sandwiched between Hulkenberg and Alonso. Sirotkin out, Alonso a double puncture (yes, two flat tires!) but managed to bring the Mclaren to the pits and continue. Kimi also continued with new tires and a new front wing. And as the safety car finally disappeared, Vettel started to build a comfortable lead. Meanwhile the two Red Bulls were battling hard and even touched wheels in turn 1. Fair to say, Mercedes could not keep up, so they had to try something different. Hamilton pitted, but they left Bottas out. Vettel pitted as planned, expecting to see Bottas in the pits eventually and easily winning the race.

But this is Formula 1, and expectations don’t match reality. The battling Red Bulls crashed. The biggest sin in F1, crashing with your teammate, and it happened again. Just 2 weeks after both Toro Rosso’s collided. (And those who remember Turkey 2010, you know.) This brought out the safety car for the second time, and the top 4 fitted new tires for the final laps. Bottas lucked out and was already dreaming about the win, while Vettel was eager to overtake him and still win this race. Hamilton, close behind now, was also hoping for an unexpected victory. After an embarrassing crash from Grosjean (under safety car!) delayed the restart even more, the front-runners were ready for 4 laps of hard battle! Hamilton was attacking Vettel while he was attacking Bottas! In an all-or-nothing divebomb he locked up and ran wide, rejoining the track in 4th with flat-spotted front tires causing vibrations. He was later overtaken by Perez because of that issue. Bottas ran over some debris and got a puncture, robbing him from the win and putting team mate Hamilton into the lead. That is how the race finished. Hamilton wins, Kimi 2nd and Perez completes the podium.

Lewis now leads the championship. It went from Vettel expanding his lead to falling behind 4 points in a few minutes. This made it a very painful afternoon. Now Ferrari needs to show true strength and get back into the lead of the drivers championship (Still leading the contstructors thanks to the Bottas DNF).

Special mention to Ferrari Young Driver Charles Leclerc for his brilliant performance this weekend, both in qualifying and in the race. He finished P6! We are secretly not so secretly hoping to see him in a Ferrari seat, sometime 2020?

Alright now, can we please have a bit less drama in Spain?

Sunny weather brings out the cool cars

Three of the five cars that joined the day were this manual 360 Spider, an F12berlinetta and a 458 Italia.

It’s been a pretty long winter but the weather was finally on our side today. The Ferrari Club Alphen decided to set up a route through the countryside of the Netherlands and enjoy their prancing horses!

We met up at around 11 am this morning and after a cold drink I jumped into the car with Diederik Lieftink to join the Ferrari Club Alphen on one of their drives. We were joined by five Ferrari’s: a manual 360 Spider, an F430 Spider, a California, a 458 Italia and an F12berlinetta. The 360 Spider drove in front of the rest and we left the city of Alphen aan den Rijn, not really unnoticed. Everywhere you looked were people with their phones out to capture the small group of Italian cars. It’s great to see so many people enjoying the cars, pointing at them and smiling when one of them decides to accelerate a bit.

We drove for an hour, or so, when we arrived at a ferry to cross the river De Lek. Getting five Ferrari’s onto a ferry is funny to witness, but driving a car with just a tiny bit of ground clearance is not something I’d like to do. Luckily, many of them had their lift system up.

When we arrived at the other side of the river, we really hit the countryside. It’s funny, you often don’t realize how beautiful the Netherlands can be, especially with five prancing horses in front of you. After an hour we arrived at the lunch location which was, nicely said, a bit chaotic. The restaurant didn’t got the reservation through which meant there were no reserved parking spaces. This caused a pretty big traffic jam. Might come as a surprise, but to park and perform U-turns on a so called dike in a wide supercar seems not to be the easiest thing in the world.

Luckily, everyone was able to safely park their car up and we went to the restaurant for lunch. They had a very nice and tasty looking menu, but I went for the traditional Dutch kroketten. Diederik and I finished our meals and we were offered the key of the F430 Spider, to drive a bit around while searching for a photoshoot location.

My first Ferrari experience was in a matte black F430 Spider, back in 2014, so I felt right at home. Diederik is a pretty skilled driver, meaning the occasional acceleration was safely executed. We found some sort of vineyard and parked the car up.

It’s an F430 Spider from 2006; finished in Tour de France Blu with a tan interior. In my opinion, it’s the perfect spec for the car, especially in this kind of weather. Although being quite dark-ish in the winter, it’s a sparkling colour in the summer. The V8 produces 490 bhp and delivers the most epic sound you can imagine. I had the opportunity to get some cool pictures, but don’t hesitate to check out @DiederikLieftink on Instagram for even better shots.

It’s so cool the be a part of the whole group and discussing a shared passion with the owners and people you meet throughout the day. Big thanks to the organisers for letting Diederik and I join their drive. The next drive is already planned so definitely stay tuned for more content from the Ferrari Club Alphen.

Chinese GP: Ferrari loses out in dramatic Chinese Grand Prix!

Ferrari takes a disappointing result after a crazy China GP full of position changes, contact, strategy and a controversial dutchman. Kimi on the podium, Seb only 8th.

Saturday
Scuderia Ferrari showed incredible pace in qualifying. Raikkonen set a new track record early in Q3, and then improved again in the second run. But Vettel pipped him by 87 thousands of a second. Front row lockout again, over 4 tenths to Bottas in third. Things were looking good for a win on sunday.

Sunday
F1 is never predictable, that’s the most important lesson from this GP. What looked like an easy one-stop control-from-the-lead race turned out a little different. At the start Bottas managed to get in front of Kimi. Mercedes pulled a succesful undercut and put Bottas in the lead. Seb tried to get past but couldn’t. Kimi stopped late for his tires, looking for good speed in the final laps. But the race turned completely upside down when the two Toro Rosso’s collided and left debris at turn 14. Race control decided a safety car was needed. Red Bull brought in both cars for fresh rubber. At the restart the top 6 order was Bottas-Vettel-Hamilton-Verstappen-Raikkonen-Ricciardo. The Red Bulls were much faster and Verstappen tried to pass Hamilton but ran wide off track. Ricciardo moved past Kimi and Verstappen, and later flew by Vettel on the straight. Eventually he dived down the inside of Bottas to take the lead. Verstappen attempted to pass Vettel in the hairpin, but he locked up and they both spun around. Vettel lost places to Hamilton, Raikkonen and Verstappen. Because of the damage to his car he couldn’t fight Hulkenberg and Alonso. From 3rd to 8th, Seb lost very important championship points. The end result is Ric-Bot-Rai-Ham-Ver-Hul-Alo-Vet. A very unexpected podium after a very chaotic Grand Prix.