Ferrari won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday without the majority of the new parts that the technicians had brought to Barcelona to update the car and only some of them were tried on Friday in practice. Alonso and Massa found a good balance on Friday and felt that they had a good chance for the race and didn’t want to upset that. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the issue wasn’t that the new pieces failed to match expectations, it was rather that the rain in the morning limited the opportunities to evaluate them properly and the priority was to More…

Fernando Alonso made the perfect use of a blistering start and bold strategy to deliver an emphatic victory to his adoring fans at the Spanish Grand Prix, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. It was a race that was dictated by tyre strategy, with much of the field played it safe by adopting a four-stop strategy, whilst Raikkonen and Lotus were again able to make one less pit stop and he put himself in contention for the race win in the middle stages of the race. It will give further fuel to critics of Pirelli who argue that the More…

Ferrari has decided to cut production of its high-performance road cars by at least 4% this year, despite an increase in sales, as the Italian luxury car manufacturer seeks to preserve the exclusivity of its brand. In 2012, Ferrari sold 7,318 cars but chairman Luca di Montezemolo said the company would look to reduce that figure to below 7,000 vehicles while still aiming to increase profits. Despite the global economic outlook remaining uncertain, Ferrari has seen a growth in revenue of 4% to 551m euros (£433m) in the first quarter of this year. Net profit was 54.7m euros (£46.3m). Ferrari More…

This month we ran a competition called “Performance Reinvented”, in conjunction with Shell, giving three lucky winners the chance to do some performance driving with former F1 racer Gimmi Bruni, get into a proper F1 Simulator and to get a ride with Ferrari test driver Giancarlo Fisichella at the launch event of the new Shell V Power Nitro + fuel at London’s Battersea Power Station. We’ve already heard from Rich Gibbons. Here are the other two guest blogs, from long time JA on F1 poster “Hero was Senna” (Carlo Carluccio) and Robin Middleton. Guest Blog by “Hero was Senna” When More…

This month we ran a competition called “Performance Reinvented”, in conjunction with Shell, giving three lucky winners the chance to do some performance driving with former F1 racer Gimmi Bruni, get into a proper F1 Simulator and to get a ride with Ferrari test driver Giancarlo Fisichella at the launch event of the new Shell V Power Nitro + fuel at London’s Battersea Power Station. Over the next few days we will share with you their experiences in the form of guest blogs and images. Here’s the first, from long time JA on F1 reader Rich Gibbons. Tyre degradation. Backmarker More…

Thanks to everyone who took part in our first major competition of 2013: the Shell “Performance Reinvented” competition. The prize was a big day out at a spectacular venue in London on April 18th, which three lucky JA on F1 readers will attend; with a variety of activities including performance driving with none other than Ferrari reserve driver Giancarlo Fisichella and attending a major event hosted by former BBC F1 frontman Jake Humphrey. Entrants were asked to define what “Performance Reinvented” means to them in 150 words. The winners are listed below, together with their entries. They will be contacted More…

Fernando Alonso won the Chinese Grand Prix for Ferrari, the third different race winning driver and car combination in three races this season, with Kimi Raikkonen finishing second, where he started and Lewis Hamilton holding off a hard charging Sebastian Vettel for third. It was Alonso’s 31st career victory, equalling Nigel Mansell for fourth in the all-time winners list and his second in China. Vettel retained the drivers’ championship lead, three points ahead of Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton, but it tightened up; just 12 points separate the top four drivers, all World Champions. Ferrari closed to within five points of More…

Double world champion Fernando Alonso says he does not regret the decision not to pit for a new front wing which ultimately caused his retirement in the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver, 31, broke his front wing when he made contact with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel at turn two at Sepang. With the track drying out after a rain shower, the team took the decision not to pit after the first lap in the hope they could keep going and change the wing when they changed tyres. However, the wing gave way and became trapped underneath the car on More…

Today we announce the first major JA on F1 competition of 2013. We’ve done some pretty cool ones over the years, giving many fans the chance to get closer to the sport. This one is particularly intriguing. In conjunction with our friends at Shell, it’s your chance to take part in a very special event in Central London on April 18th, hosted by former BBC F1 frontman Jake Humphrey and featuring a chance for you to do some driving in high performance cars in a dramatic setting, with Ferrari test drivers, including Giancarlo Fisichella. You will also get a chance More…

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso blamed “extremely bad luck” for his second lap retirement in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. The double world champion, who was competing in his 200th race, moved up a place to second at the start but broke his front wing when he tapped leader Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull at turn two. With conditions still a few laps away from being suitable for dry weather tyres, the team decided to keep Alonso, 31, out on track to avoid having to make two stops in four laps. It was a mistake; the loads on the wing were too More…

Ferrari believe they have a car capable of challenging for the world championship after taking the lead in the constructors’ standings following the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. A radio message to Fernando Alonso from his engineer said: “Ci Siamo” (“We are there”) after the Spaniard finished second, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa. That would suggest the Italian team feel they have a good chance of the title this year starting from this baseline which is much stronger than that of last year at this point in the season. While Kimi Raikkonen More…

Double world champion Fernando Alonso says his Ferrari team will require perfection if they are to win the World Championship. The Italian team last won the constructors’ title in 2008, and the drivers’ – with Kimi Raikkonen – in 2007. Last season, Alonso lead the championship for much of the season, despite having a car which lacked the pace of its immediate rivals, however, he ultimately lost out to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel by three points at the finale in Brazil. The team look to be in better shape ahead of the new season but Alonso, 31, says they need More…

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has told his rivals that he is better prepared ahead of the new season than last year – and he believes this year will be stronger. The double world champion led the championship for much of 2012, despite having an inferior car to the Red Bull and McLaren, but missed out to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel by three points. But after training hard during the winter and showing good pace in winter testing, setting the second fastest time on the final day in Barcelona, Alonso has high hopes for this season. “Last year was the best year More…

Felipe Massa says this week’s final pre-season test in Barcelona will be pivotal as his Ferrari team look to start the season at the sharp end of the grid. The Scuderia were well off the pace in testing last year and struggled with the development of their 2012 machine throughout the season. This year, the team’s early performance has looked more positive with Massa clocking the fastest time in the first test in Jerez and his team-mate Fernando Alonso the second fastest time in Barcelona last week. The Brazilian said the team are working on a number of updates for More…

Fernando Alonso completed his first week in the new Ferrari F138 by topping the times on the third day of testing in Barcelona, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean. Alonso – who is handing the car over to Felipe Massa tomorrow for the final day of the test – used today as a chance to show his team’s pace on the soft compound tyre, completing a number of single-lap runs during the morning session. His time today was within 1/10th of Sergio Perez’s time yesterday, and half a second quicker than Alonso managed in Q3 of qualifying last year. More…

[Updated] UPS the leading logistics business has come into F1 as a partner of the Ferrari team. Although no figure was given for the value of the deal, its is described as a “long-term deal”. It follows Rolex, Emirates and Blackberry as well as Experian (announced today on the Williams) as the fifth global brand to enter F1 over the off-season, a very encouraging sign for the sport. Based in America, UPS has been involved in motorsports sponsorships for 12 years, but this is the first time it has come into F1. The deal was announced this morning in Barcelona, More…

It’s been quite a day for Ferrari; first it was named as the world’s most powerful brand in a report by industry experts Brand Finance, then it announced the best sales figures in 66 years of trading, despite a savage downturn in sales in its home country Italy. Global sales for 2012 topped €2.4 billion, a rise of 8% on 2011 values and the company sold 7,318 cars, and increase of 4%. Net profits rose by 17.8% to €244 million. Although Italy sales were down over 40%, the company enjoyed record sales in USA, China, Germany and Great Britain, where More…

Ferrari has confirmed that it has hired veteran designer Rory Byrne, architect of the winning Benetton and Ferrari cars of the Michael Schumacher era, to work on its next F1 car, which will be to 2014 turbo rules. La Gazetta Sportiva says that Byrne, 69, was spotted at the F1 launch this year and told a German journalist his plans. Quizzed on this, the team has now confirmed the signing. Byrne retired from F1 and moved to Thailand a few years ago to run a scuba diving centre, but has maintained strong links with Ferrari. There is a very specific More…

Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali believes that this year’s car, the F138, must be on a par with its competitors from the outset in order to give the Maranello based squad their best chance of winning their first Formula One Championship since 2007. Speaking at the launch of the car at Ferrari HQ today, Domenicali says that they must make amends for a slow start last year, which cost them Championship points in the early stages of the season, and hit the ground running in order to compete with McLaren and Red Bull. “The key objective that we must have More…

The final player to take the stage at Ferrari’s pre-season warm up event in Madonna di Campiglio was Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard, who narrowly missed out on his third world title at the final round in Brazil last year, is refreshed and ready to challenge again with the new Ferrari, which will be launched in just over two weeks time. Ferrari got their sums wrong on the 2012 car and started the season around 1.5 seconds off the pace. This year Alonso sees no reason why the new car, developed in the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne by a strengthened More…

The return to form of Felipe Massa was one of the more heartening stories of the second half of last season. In the 11 races prior to the Belgian GP last year the Brazilian had scored just 25 points, but in the remaining nine races from Spa onwards he scored 97 points, with two podiums. Speaking at the Ferrari Wrooom event in Madonna di Campiglio this morning, Massa said that this was down to a shift in his own mental approach rather than to any changes on the car which may have suited his style, “It is not that the More…

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali took the stage today at the Ferrari pre-season Wrooom event in Madonna di Campiglio. He said that the 2013 season would be “complex” in terms of managing resources, ruled out a move for Sebastian Vettel while Fernando Alonso is with the team and confirmed that Pedro de la Rosa will join the team in a support capacity. All of these are worth deeper consideration. First the challenges of competing in 2013 while developing a 2014 car. Ferrari finds itself in a tricky position with regards to wind tunnel time, as its own tunnel is being More…

As the new year kicks into life there is plenty of action at Ferrari; the team is beginning work on a new base for its F1 team which is due to open in time to develop the 2015 car, on a site between the Cavallino restaurant and the existing team headquarters, known as Gestione Sportiva. At the same time the team announced today that from February 1 it will have a new head of communications, Renato Bisignani, formerly of Renault F1, who will replace Luca Colajanni, who held the position for over a decade. This change has been rumoured since More…

Luca di Montezemolo has used his annual pre-Christmas dinner with journalists to outline his desire to see the team’s designers take off the shackles and be bolder with its 2013 car. A lack of innovation in the Maranello design office has been widely perceived as the root cause of Ferrari’s failure to win a world title in the last four seasons, although a more aggressive approach  in the conception of this year’s F2012 was supposed to have been taken only for some initial design interpretations to backfire come winter testing. But on the day Ferrari announced some changes to its More…

Ferrari’s traditional end of season sign-off, the Ferrari World Finals, has been the scene of some triumphant scenes in the last decade, but not today. Over 15,000 Ferrari fans are in Valencia to see the last rounds of Ferrari’s own racing series and to see a demonstration run of the F1 car. Fernando Alonso will attend the event, but there is not much to celebrate after the team missed the drivers’ title by 3 points, having enjoyed an advantage of over 40 points after the summer break. He will drive the unloved F2012 car for the last time. Next season More…

Fernando Alonso’s US Grand Prix weekend may have been spent largely focusing on the serious business of his title bid but the Ferrari driver did have a chance for some light relief during an event in the heart of Austin. As part of a promotional appearance for the team’s fuel partner Shell, the double world champion visited one of the firm’s petrol stations in the state to surprise an unsuspecting local customer who had pulled into the garage to fill up his car. After getting over the shock of having his car filled up by Alonso, Pedro Solis was presented More…

And so it comes to this: Two races in eight days to decide the outcome of the 2012 world championship. It’s been a long road to this point, but which of the two drivers has done a better job? Here we present an analysis of what has led us to this point. The margin between them is small at 10 points. But it will be all over this weekend if Vettel wins with Alonso 5th or lower. It can also be settled if Vettel is 2nd with Alonso 9th or lower or if Vettel is 3rd and Alonso is out More…

There was an interesting news snippet this week; the announcement that Apple’s head of Internet software and services, Eddie Cue, has joined the board of Ferrari. There has been speculation about what this might be leading towards, with some suggesting that Apple is interested in the “Connected car” concept, whereby services available in the home will become available in the car, thanks to improved 3g and 4g connectivity. There is also much for Ferrari to gain in terms of reaching its enormous fan base worldwide with content and raising revenues from it, as Cue has extensive experience of Apple’s ITunes More…

Here is something new: our first translation of a piece of JA on F1 content into Spanish. With a very positive response from the piece on Alonso and Vettel’s bid to become a three times world champion, we’ve had it translated so our Spanish speaking friends can enjoy it too. Disfrutar! Ya sabemos que al final de esta temporada la Fórmula 1 tendrá un nuevo tricampeón, ya que Sebastián Vettel o Fernando Alonso ganará este campeonato y, con él, adquirirá la condición mítica de pilotos como Ayrton Senna y Sir Jackie Stewart de ser un triple campeón del mundo. Convertirse More…

At the end of this season we know that Formula 1 will have a new three-times world champion; either Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso will win this championship and with it will acquire the mythical status of drivers like Ayrton Senna and Sir Jackie Stewart of being a triple world champion. Becoming a three-times champion means being considered one of the “greats” of this sport. Fans at present are debating who is more worthy of winning the title; Alonso has had an extraordinary year dragging results out of a less competitive car, but Vettel kept notching up the points and More…

The paddock is awaiting Ferrari’s on-track response to being toppled from the head of the drivers’ championship for the first time since mid-June in India and the team today has promised this weekend will herald the start of an “aggressive” development push for the remainder of the season. While Red Bull’s steady, and consistently impressive, rate of development over the past few races has allowed Sebastian Vettel to win three grands prix on the spin and establish a six-point cushion over Fernando Alonso at the top of the drivers’ standings, Ferrari’s bid to improve the F2012 has been stymied by More…

Felipe Massa’s Ferrari career will move into an eighth season after the team today awarded the Brazilian driver a one-year contract extension. The announcement had been expected for several weeks in light of the 31-year-old’s timely return to form, which has seen him finish in the points in each of the last six grands prix and help Ferrari move ahead of McLaren into second place in the constructors’ championship. Luca di Montezemolo had said yesterday that he would sit down with Massa at Maranello for a meeting today to discuss his future before making a final decision on it, and More…

Ferrari’s mysterious blogger, The Horse Whisperer has made one of his occasional interventions on a day when the BBC F1 website ran a story with a strong line that Sebastian Vettel is headed to Ferrari in 2014. And, as always, the Whisperer’s view is interesting for what is said and for what is not said. It started with the BBC F1 site, where this morning’s headline was “Ferrari plan for arrival of Vettel” Underneath the thrust of the argument was, “Ferrari sources say they already have a deal in place with double world champion Vettel, with an option for the More…

Fernando Alonso has today issued a pick-me-up to Ferrari by backing the team stay in the hunt for the world championship “right down to the wire” in Brazil, insisting that the hard work that has got him into the championship lead can also keep him there. Having already had to swim against the tide for the majority of the season, Alonso is in danger of losing the lead of the drivers’ standings for the first time since Canada back in June by the end of this Sunday’s race in Korea after Sebastian Vettel cut his advantage to just four points with his second More…

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso saw his championship lead cut from 29 points to just four points on Sunday and for the second time in three seasons is confronted with the prospect of losing a title he had in his grasp. And the signs are that, with Red Bull on the up, with technical development hitting its peak and more to come in Korea, Ferrari has to find a way to win at least another race this season or the title will be gone. It is going to be very hard as the Red Bull is now approaching the level of superiority More…

Ferrari’s fuel partner Shell is offering fans the chance to win a print of the specially-commissioned painting that was recently presented to the Italian team to mark the two firm’s 500th grand prix in partnership. The two internationally renowned brands racked up the milestone at the Singapore GP last month and as part of the celebrations Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali and race drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were presented with a painting commissioned by Shell and created by renowned motorsport artist Michael Turner. Turner’s painting featured Fernando Alonso in the current F2012 alongside the first Shell-powered Ferrari F1 car More…

Last Friday, somewhat lost among all the furore over the announcement of the Hamilton-Mercedes transfer, there was an important note made by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo in a Q&A session at the Paris Motor Show. It was the session where he confirmed that Ferrari would need to shut down its wind tunnel in either December or January for calibration checks, which has had reasonably wide coverage. In the same session, Montezemolo talked about Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and there were a couple of important lines to note, for better understanding the full picture when the time comes for More…

Considering the Singapore GP is regarded as one of the most commercially significant events on the calendar it was somewhat apt that Ferrari and its most long-standing partner, Shell, celebrated their 500th race in partnership over the weekend. To mark the occasion several events were held around the city from Thursday onwards, including Fernando Alonso performing a demonstration lap of Marina Bay in the Shell Performance Simulator (which you can watch here), while a specially-commissioned tribute video was also shown for the first time which looked back at the history of the two world-renowned brands in partnership. The four-minute film, More…

The near-thousand strong parade of Ferrari sportscars that took to Silverstone earlier this month has been confirmed as a new Guinness World Record. In an attempt to beat the previous mark of 490 Ferraris all on the same racetrack set at Japan’s Fuji Speedway in 2008, Ferrari Racing Days sent out a call to owners of the iconic sportscar to descend on Silverstone on September 15 to see if they could beat that mark for a new world record. The attempt proved hugely successful with a mammoth 964 cars turning up at the home of the British GP. Organisers report More…

Here is something a bit different – Ferrari F1 driver and world championship leader Fernando Alonso drove a flying lap of the Singapore Grand Prix circuit today on the Shell Performance Simulator, which was set up in a hotel downtown. The Spaniard, who has won the Singapore Grand Prix twice, drove a hot lap in 1m 48 seconds, which is only three seconds slower than he managed in qualifying here last year, whilst at the same time describing it in English, complete with corners speeds and some insights and details. It’s a pretty impressive performance; particularly because he did not More…

Ferrari and fuel supplier Shell will reach a significant milestone in Singapore this weekend when the two companies rack up their 500th Grand Prix in partnership. The relationship between the two international brands is one of the most long-standing in world motorsport and to celebrate the landmark the front and rear wings on both F2012s will carry special ‘500 races’ liveries throughout the race weekend, with several other events planned from Thursday onwards. A special four-minute film will be shown to the media and feature interviews with key Ferrari figures including president Luca di Montezemolo, team boss Stefano Domenicali and More…

Here at JA on F1, we always get a kick out of sending fans to races, particularly if they have never had the chance to see F1 close up before. And we always like to help them get closer to the sport. The Ultimate F1 Road Trip to the Shell Belgian Grand Prix was an experience the four winners and their guests will never forget. They drove down from London to Spa Francorchamps, got to see behind the scenes in the Ferrari garage, drive an F1 simulator, saw Fernando Alonso, met Bernie Ecclestone at dinner on Saturday night and generally More…

Four winners of the JA on F1/Shell V Power “Ultimate F1 Road Trip” competition drove down to Spa Francorchamps for an unforgettable weekend and were in the circuit for qualifying and race day, taking in a visit to the paddock, the Ferrari garage and the Shell Track Lab, testing out a simulator, enjoying hospitality at Eau Rouge and even meeting Bernie Ecclestone in a local restaurant! Here, one of the winners, Andrew Jacobs, recounts his favourite moments from the trip. Andrew Jacobs writes: “Having been treated to a sumptuous four course meal at the rather chic Hotel Derlon in Maastricht More…

Four winners of the JA on F1/Shell Ultimate F1 Road Trip competition have driven down to Spa Francorchamps and were in the circuit for qualifying day. Based in hospitality at the foot of Eau Rouge, they watched practice and qualifying from the grandstand at the side of Eau Rouge. Afterwards they had a chance to tour the F1 paddock and went into the Ferrari garage and the Shell track lab. Here is Anil’s account of his day. Anil writes: “Shortly after qualifying, we all waited inside the Shell hospitality area for a brief appearance from Ferrari’s Alonso. In typical celebrity More…

This weekend four lucky winners of the Ultimate F1 Road Trip competition, which JA on F1 organised with Shell, are making their way down to Spa by road from London with their guests, ahead of a dream weekend at the heart of the F1 action. We’ll be posting content with their experiences during the weekend and a video early next week, but here is the first instalment, from Rob Sinfield (aka Grand Prix Diary) written in the back of a Chrysler Voyager as they sped towards Spa. Rob Sinfield writes: The day started for us lucky four prizewinners and guests, More…

Felipe Massa has called on Ferrari to stick with him for next season because, “I believe I am a good driver and I can do a lot more than I did in the first part of this year.” Speaking in the paddock at Spa on Thursday, the Brazilian said that he was working to stay at Ferrari in 2013 and believes he still has a chance to retain his seat, but admitted that nothing is in place yet and anything could happen. “The direction is to stay here, but nothing is sure yet, ” he said. “So we need to More…

This week we have been reviewing the performances of the first half of the season by the drivers, following a rating by influential Italian sports paper Gazzetta dello Sport. To read their ratings click Here We’ve had an interesting debate on the ratings, with over 300 comments left, many with fans posting their own version of the “pagelle”, or marks out of ten. Gazzetta gave Alonso a perfect 10, which leaves no room for improvement. Though he is having his best season in F1 to date, leading the championship with three wins without having the fastest car and has convinced More…

We have been running our best ever competition on JA on F1 for the last few weeks. And now it’s time to announce the winners. Along with Shell, the title sponsor of the Belgian Grand Prix, we are organising the Ultimate F1 Road Trip, which will see four lucky winners plus guests drive down from London to Spa Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. It’s all part of our ongoing commitment at JA on F1 to help bring the fans closer to the sport. The prize includes grandstand seats, hospitality at the foot of Eau Rouge, F1′s most iconic More…

The influential Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport has done a mid-season rating of each of the F1 drivers, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso coming out on top, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. And in a stark assessment of Ferrari’s other driver, Felipe Massa is at the bottom of the table. The Italian media is very fond of what they call “pagelle”, which are marks out of 10 after every event. It’s a well established part of Italian sports media coverage and has been copied here and there in the UK media and elsewhere. But in Italy it carries More…

Today is the last day of the 2012 London Olympics…but it’s also the last day of the JA on F1 Ultimate F1 Road Trip competition, which we have organised with Shell, the sponsor of the Belgian Grand Prix. The event will see 8 lucky fans win the trip of a lifetime to the best F1 circuit in the world at Spa Francorchamps with Grandstand seats; hospitality at the legendary Eau Rouge corner; seat time in an F1 simulator (the Shell Professional Simulator Experience, developed in collaboration with Ferrari) and, of course, a fun road trip down there in the company More…

Sir Jackie Stewart has warned Sebastian Vettel against swapping the stronghold of support he has built up at Red Bull for a move to Ferrari to go up against Fernando Alonso. Strong reports over recent months from respected outlets in the Italian media have suggested that reigning two-time world champion Vettel has some sort of agreement in place with Ferrari over potentially joining the Maranello marque as Alonso’s team-mate in 2014, although Red Bull chief Christian Horner, whose team announced last year that Vettel had signed a contract extension up to the end of the season after next, has insisted More…

Kimi Raikkonen was at the centre of attention on Sunday in Hungary; first as rumours went around that he was being considered for a return to Ferrari for 2013 and then for his stunning performance in the race, where he challenged Lewis Hamilton for victory despite ending the first lap in sixth place. It was a great performance by Raikkonen at an opportune moment to remind Lotus and others of his value as an F1 driver. Considering that he spent two years on the sidelines and therefore had one year’s less experience of Pirelli tyres than his rivals, he has More…

We’ve had some pretty exciting competitions on JA on F1 over the years and have sent many first time fans to Grands Prix, who would not have had the chance to go otherwise. But I’m delighted to say that we now have our most exciting competition ever! Thanks to Shell, the title sponsor of the event, I have four pairs of VIP Grandstand tickets to the Belgian Grand Prix, Sunday 2nd September, at the world famous Spa Francorchamps circuit. But that’s not all… We want your journey to the race to be just as memorable, which is why Shell is More…

Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have taken time out from their preparations for the Hungarian Grand Prix to experience first-hand the devastation the two deadly earthquakes in northern Italy earlier this year had on the lives of local people. In May two large earthquakes inside the space of 10 days hit the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, of which Ferrari’s Maranello base is situated, killing 23 people, leaving thousands homeless and destroying both historic buildings and businesses to the estimated cost of £3.83bn in damage. Two months on from the disasters, 13,000 people continue to live in tented More…

[Updated] Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix from pole position, his third win of the season and another stunning drive under intense pressure by the Spaniard, who increased his lead in the drivers’ championship to 34 points. It was the 30th win of Alonso’s F1 career, one less than Nigel Mansell and his second consecutive win at Hockenheim, following on from his controversial win in 2010. Sebastian Vettel finished second on the road, his 40th podium in F1, with Jenson Button third, but afterwards Vettel was given a 20 second penalty by the stewards for passing Button by going More…

Fernando Alonso will start on pole for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim after another rain affected qualifying session; another day for making the right decisions and being on the track at the right moment. It was Alonso’s 22nd career pole and his second in a row after Silverstone, as he looks to consolidate his position at the top of the drivers’ world championship. Sebastian Vettel was second and Mark Webber third. The final stages of qualifying were all about timing and tyre temperature and Alonso got it spot on, setting two fast laps as others struggled to get on More…

Ferrari’s celebrated anonymous blogger, The Horse Whisperer, has returned to the keyboard today to write a short post on the official Ferrari.com site in reaction to comments worldwide about Ferrari’s next move now that Mark Webber has committed to Red Bull for 2013. Written in its usual sardonic tone, the gist of the piece is to poke fun at journalists and bloggers who have speculated on what the team’s plans are around drivers “In Maranello, no one is in a hurry to make any decisions and that’s for sure. “Yesterday, one absolute certainty of the past few months was washed More…

Luca di Montezemolo has used his traditional post-victory speech to Ferrari’s F1 employees to stress to the team the need to stay realistic over its competitiveness and respond to the impressive step forward made by Red Bull in Valencia. Fernando Alonso’s latest against-the-odds victory of the season last weekend, and retirements for his main two title rivals, meant the Spaniard opened up nearly the points equivalent of a race victory at the top of the drivers’ championship despite Ferrari still not having the fastest car. The Italian outfit’s president, however, is not losing sight of the bigger picture and admits More…

Fernando Alonso became the first two time race winner in 2012 with a stunning victory in the European Grand Prix. It was a very valuable win as both his main title contenders did not score points; Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel both fell by the wayside, giving Alonso the chance to open up a relatively big points lead. He has 111 points with Webber on 91, Hamilton on 88 and Vettel on 85. After a dramatic final dash to the line, the two comeback kings got great results; Kimi Raikkonen finished second ahead of Michael Schumacher. It was Schumacher’s 155th More…

Ferrari will donate over £1.4 million to the families of the victims of the earthquakes that devastated northern Italy last month following a hugely successful online auction over recent weeks. Twenty three people died and several hundred were injured after the Emilia Romagna region was hit by two deadly earthquakes measuring 6.0 and 5.8 on the Richter Scale respectively inside 10 days at the end of May. Thousands of local residents were also made homeless and many of the region’s cultural buildings were destroyed. The shocks were felt at Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters, which are located less than 50km away, and More…

Ferrari’s Chief Designer Nikolas Tombazis says the team has found “a big improvement in car performance” following intensive work on the F2012 and it goes into the European Grand Prix this weekend with confidence. Valencia’s street track plays host to F1 for the fifth time this weekend. It is a track similar in some characteristics to the two previous races in Monaco and Montreal; low speed traction being pivotal to performance there. This was a weakness of the Ferrari at the start of the season, with the first round at Melbourne being a race in which neither car managed to More…

The head of the Ferrari Driver Academy, former Ferrari F1 engineer Luca Baldisserri, has put out an interesting status report on the young drivers in his programme. The lead focus is on Sergio Perez, who got a podium in Montreal at the weekend for Sauber. But Baldisserri makes an interesting comment on the Mexican, which clearly shows how closely he is being monitored by the Scuderia, who regard him as one of their own, but at the same time is designed to shoot down speculation that they are soon to make a move on Perez. Instead it shows that they More…

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has issued an call for F1 teams, the FIA and the governing body to come together urgently to resolve the issue of costs in the sport. With Europe teetering on the verge of a major financial crisis as the Euro is threatened by the Spanish debt situation, Montezemolo argues that the sport can no longer talk around the subject, but must put a plan in place. The failure to agree an extended Resource Restriction Agreement was the reason why FOTA fell apart last Christmas when Ferrari and Red Bull withdrew taking Toro Rosso and Sauber More…

Fernando Alonso has issued a robust defence of the Ferrari strategists after he lost the win in Canada yesterday and ended up fifth by gambling on a one-stop strategy. The Spaniard led the race on lap 50, when Lewis Hamilton came in for his second stop of the afternoon. As Alonso came around at the end of lap 51, Hamilton’s new soft tyres were still coming up to temperature and Alonso had a 14.8 second lead over him. It was enough, arguably, with Ferrari’s track record this year of very fast pit stops, to chance their arm on a stop More…

Italy has been rocked in recent weeks by a series of earthquakes that have destroyed the lives of many families in the Emilia-Romagna region of the nation, which is the home to the city of Modena; a name prominent with both Ferrari and motoring fans alike. Ferrari had to stop work in Maranello for a day this week. Ferrari are holding an on-line auction to raise funds for the families of those who have lost their lives, a number that currently stands at 23. The auction will have a designated section on the companies on-line Ferrari Store, allowing the public More…

Fernando Alonso sits on top of the drivers’ standings this morning after his third place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix. But it is more than surprising that Alonso is in this position, given how poor the Ferrari car was in pre-season testing and the early season races. So how has it happened? Consistency has certainly been the key for Alonso who, along with Hamilton is the only driver to have scored points in every race so far. But there’s more to it than that. The tyres play their part in this story, inevitably, the misfortunes of others have their More…

A powerful earthquake, which struck in the early hours of Sunday morning, killing seven people and destroying many historic buildings, was centred less than 50 kilometres from Maranello, the home of Ferrari. The magnitude six quake, had its epicentre between the towns of Finale Emilia, San Felice sul Panaro and Sermide, about 35km north of the city of Bologna, close to Modena, but it was felt as far afield as Milan. A Ferrari spokesman said this morning that the shock had been clearly felt in Maranello, but there is no damage to Ferrari’s road car factory or to the Gestione More…

[Updated] Everyone who follows F1 knows that Ferrari have shown extraordinary level of support to Felipe Massa in the last two and a half years. The little Brazilian almost won the world title for them in 2008 and would have done if they hadn’t lost him a win in the Singapore GP by leaving the fuel hose attached at a pit stop. After his accident in Hungary 2009 they again stood by him, helping him back into the car for 2010. But now, with such a tight field at the front in F1, the signs are that their patience is More…

Ferrari will benefit from a more powerful fuel at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix after partner Shell developed a new blend of its V-Power mixture. Engine development may have been ‘frozen’ in Formula 1 for several years but fuel is one area where improvements can still be made by the technicians of the various fuel companies involved in the sport. Shell is confident it has managed to make a “significant step change” with the latest blend without compromising on the previous version’s consumption levels. “Despite the freeze on engine regulations in F1 and F1 fuel regulations being the most strictly More…

Jacques Villeneuve retraced his legendary father’s footsteps in a special event at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track today as he took to Gilles’s 312 T4 to mark the 30th anniversary of his death. As a team firmly in touch with its past, May 8 remains a date firmly ingrained at Maranello as the day Gilles Villeneuve, considered one of the most exciting and inspirational Formula 1 drivers of all time, was killed in a high-speed accident during qualifying for the Belgian GP at Zolder in 1982. Given Jacques never drove for Ferrari during his F1 career, and actually famously battled directly against More…

It’s been interesting to see how Fernando Alonso has started opening up much more to the public recently, clearly part of a move to address his image in the public’s eyes and to use the social media tools available today to build a better relationship – and a direct one – with fans. This weekend has has taken part in a widescale question and answer session with fans via his Facebook and Twitter accounts. For example Alonso only recently joined Twitter, one of the last of the leading drivers to do so. He now has almost half a million followers. More…

Ferrari knows that it needs more points than it is scoring at the moment from its second car. Last year Felipe Massa scored only 45% of Fernando Alonso’s points tally. This season so far, described as make or break for Massa by both team boss Stefano Domenicali and Ferrari president Luca Montezemolo, Massa has 4% of Alonso’s points. And so rumours have begun to swirl again about the possibility of Ferrari hiring Mark Webber to partner Alonso on a short term contract. The story originated in Spain’s El Confidential, which claimed that the deal was already done and it has More…

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo this week sat down with the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, for a two-hour meeting during a visit to the world famous Stanford University in California, where he was giving a lecture to students. The heads of two of the world’s most truly global brands came together for a lengthy discussion to chew the fat on their respective company’s ideas and visions, as well as sharing insight on strategy and management styles. Although the industries of racing and car production and consumer electronics and computers might seem far apart in many aspects, Montezemolo – who also More…

In wake of Ferrari technical director Pat Fry’s recent frank assessment of the urgent need to change the “methodologies” used at the team in order to become successful again, Stefano Domenicali has now confirmed the process of making such deep-seated change is firmly underway – although stressed it would be a long-term project. Ferrari’s disappointing start to the season, which has happened despite a change in design philosophy for 2012, appears to have crystallised for the Maranello hierarchy the need to overhaul its fundamental approach to designing and developing F1 cars. Speaking on Monday, Domenicali, Ferrari’s team principal, said the plan was to More…

Fernando Alonso is expecting the battle for the championship to distil into a much smaller group of protagonists than currently appears the case – and says that when that time comes Ferrari must ensure it is right in the fight. The pattern of the season’s first three races has mirrored that of 2010 when there were also three different winners from three different teams and a championship leader who had yet to win a race. Six different drivers have also stood on the podium so far in 2012, which is just one less than the total for the whole of last season. But Alonso, More…

From the unexpected high of victory in Malaysia, the Chinese Grand Prix brought Ferrari back down to earth with a bump as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa finished in ninth and 13th places respectively. The Maranello outfit may currently be in the process of accelerating developmental work on the F2012 in a bid to improve the difficult car’s competitive as quickly as possible, yet the team’s senior technical figure has admitted there are also more deep-rooted problems that need to be resolved if Ferrari is to enjoy sustained long-term success again. Pat Fry, who took the reigns of Ferrari’s technical department last More…

Ferrari technical director Pat Fry has revealed that the team has managed to accelerate some of the ongoing development work on the F2012 in time to bring five new parts to the car for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, the Englishman believing the team need to find eight tenths of a second to get on par with the fastest team on outright pace. Although Fernando Alonso’s brilliantly opportunistic victory in Malaysia took him into a hugely unexpected early lead in the drivers’ championship after two rounds, neither driver nor team have attempted to mask the F2012’s continued underperformance in dry More…

Ferrari has revealed plans to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of one of its most revered drivers, Gilles Villeneuve, next month with a special event at its Fiorano test track. The Canadian legend’s son Jacques, the 1997 world champion, will drive the 312T4 with which Gilles and team-mate Jody Scheckter contested the 1979 drivers’ title, the crown going to the latter by four points as Ferrari also won the constructors’ championship. The elder Villeneuve won three grands prix in that particular car – South Africa, Long Beach and Watkins Glen – and it was also the challenger he More…

Both the Ferrari drivers went back to Maranello from Kuala Lumpur for meetings and discussions about the first two races and the way forward. Interestingly Malaysian GP winner Fernando Alonso had two meetings with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, a long one on Monday and another yesterday. Alonso participated in the ceremony whereby a flag is raised at the factory gate after a race victory, but while the Spanish driver’s stock is as high as it has even been within the team after winning a Grand Prix in arguably F1′s fifth or sixth fastest car, it has served only to More…

Fernando Alonso produced a scintillating performance today, with the Ferrari strategists and pits crew making all the right moves, to win a rain hit Malaysian Grand Prix. The track has always been good to the Spaniard; he took his first pole position and podium here and has won the race twice before. But even he had to admit that he was lucky not to lose the victory in the closing stages to 22 year old Sergio Perez, who was challenging for the lead with seven laps to go but made a mistake, losing four seconds and giving Alonso breathing space More…

Felipe Massa gave local drivers in Sepang pulling into their local petrol station the ultimate expert service on Thursday as the Brazilian turned pump attendant. As part of a promotional event for the Malaysian division of Ferrari’s fuel partner Shell, Massa appeared at the Yazn Enterprise filling station and was there to greet Ferrari road car drivers on the forecourt as well as competition winners who got the chance to meet the 11-time grand prix winner. “It is great to meet fans on a day like this. Shell works extremely hard with Ferrari to develop Shell V-Power for Formula One More…

As the paddock went about its usual work on the opening day of a grand prix weekend at Sepang on Thursday, there was also time for reflection as several drivers made poignant trips to the circuit’s turn 11 to pay tribute to Italian rider Marco Simoncelli, who was killed at the corner during the MotoGP race there last October. The Italian was considered one of the most exciting and charismatic riders on two wheels but his life was tragically cut short at the age of 24 when during the penultimate round of the MotoGP season in Malaysia he died following a horrific accident in More…

Ferrari is readying a new chassis for Felipe Massa to use in this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix in order to rule out the possibility of anything “unusual” happening with his F2012 in wake of his torrid start to the season in Melbourne. The Brazilian struggled throughout the three days at Albert Park for grip and balance, qualifying 16th and then suffering from severe tyre degradation in the race which eventually came to a miserable end following a collision with Bruno Senna. In the post-race media briefings Stefano Domenicali said the team would “need to stay close to Felipe because it’s clear More…

Race day did not match expectations for the Ferrari team in Australia – it exceeded them. Fernando Alonso’s fifth place finish – essentially the position his Ferrari was in for much of last season in qualifying – was a very strong result from 12th on the grid. It is fair to say that the lowly grid slot was due to Alonso spinning off the track in Part 2 of Qualifying and he would probably have been more like seventh or eighth on the grid in a clean session. But Alonso’s result also put the spotlight on his team mate’s difficulties More…

Fernando Alonso has predicted the first qualifying session of the 2012 season will produce a “very mixed up grid” owing to what looks set to be a closely-matched field in Melbourne. The opening day at Albert Park proved to be a frustrating one for all concerned as inconsistent weather reduced the time available for set-up and tyre evaluation work, meaning predictions for the remainder of the weekend from both drivers and team management were even thinner on the ground than normal around the paddock on Friday evening. Ferrari’s Alonso concurred to an extent, although did offer up the suggestion that the More…

Last season on JA on F1 we brought you several features on F1 fuels and engines, as Ferrari’s partner Shell gave us behind-the-scenes insight into areas ranging from the mixing of fuels for an F1 race car and the management of the engine health process. While shedding light on many aspects of these two key areas of car performance, it became clear by reading through the comments section on the site that many questions remained. So, with this in mind, we collated the best of your questions and went back to Shell and Ferrari who together took the time to answer below on topics More…

Ferrari’s difficulties in getting to grips with the F2012 was one of the threads that ran right through pre-season and Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa concede the team goes into this weekend’s Australian season-opener still in a position where they need more time to fully understand the car – but remain confident it will get there eventually. In wake of a disappointing 2011, Ferrari had hoped to be winning from the off this season but in normal conditions that appears a rather forlorn hope at Albert Park given the problematic nature of the team’s winter. The inconsistent handling of the More…

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali says the team hasn’t given up on the original exhaust configuration which featured on the F2012 in the early stages of pre-season testing – and will try again at the Mugello test in May. The placing of the exhaust outlets on the 2012 cars has been one of the big talking points of the winter in wake of the FIA’s clampdown on the blowing of exhaust gasses to deride aerodynamic benefits. Having deliberately taken a more radical approach with the F2012 in a bid to jump both Red Bull and McLaren, Ferrari launched the car with More…

Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari, has publicly entered the debate about the problems the new F2012 has been having in testing, increasing the pressure on the technical team hurrying to find the remedy. Speaking in Geneva ahead of the launch of the new F12 Berlinetta, the most powerful road going Ferrari ever with 740 horsepower (similar to an F1 car) he said, “I spoke to Alonso and he said that that there are many positive features on the car, but it will take time to unlock their potential. It’s a car still to be discovered and only in More…

Fernando Alonso believes it is important to Ferrari’s hopes of challenging for the world title that none of their rivals makes a dominant start to the season akin to Sebastian Vettel last year, should the Maranello team not be in a position to win from the first round in Australia. Team principal Stefano Domenicali confidently declared that “I am sure our car will be winning right from the beginning” at the launch of the F2012 but due to the innovative nature of the design compared to recent Ferraris the team’s pre-season programme has to date generally had to centre on More…

Felipe Massa says Ferrari has been working hard at Maranello to ensure the new F2012 runs more reliably at this week’s test at Barcelona than was the case at the opening pre-season sessions in Jerez. The Italian team completed fewer laps with its new car than any team that was in action for three or more days in southern Spain two weeks ago, racking up just 270 laps in comparison to Lotus’s benchmark total of 404. The F2012 suffered from hydraulics trouble at various points of the week, while Fernando Alonso explained that the fact the new machine features so More…

Ferrari has posted the strongest sales figures in its history, despite the economic squeeze and the worsening euro crisis. The luxury sports car maker broke through €2 billion in sales for the first time in 2011, reporting a net profit of €209 million. This was on sales of 7,195 cars, the most that Maranello has produced and sold in a year and almost 10% up on the 2010 sales figures. Interestingly, although the USA remains the leading market, sales in China increased 62% and the country has moved straight into second position. And despite the anxiety in Europe, sales in More…

Fernando Alonso says he has already seen positive signs from the new F2012 that it is able to generate heat into its tyres more quickly than was the case with its predecessor – a key aim for the team this year. Ferrari has struggled with tyre warm-up – particularly on the hardest compounds, where general performance issues have also been a perennial problem – over recent years and over the winter hired Bridgestone’s former F1 chief Hirohide Hamashima to focus on improving the interaction between car and Pirelli tyres. Alonso certainly thinks progress has been made judging by what he More…

Much had been made of Ferrari’s relatively low-key start to pre-season testing with the new F2012 but Fernando Alonso ensured everyone was talking about the new challenger in a more positive light today as he ended the final day at Jerez fastest of all. Red Bull, meanwhile, ran into their first reliability setback of the year after an electrical problem struck early on the RB8 to leave world champion Sebastian Vettel a spectator for much of the day, although he still finished third in the order. While issues with the F2012 meant Alonso himself completed only 39 laps, his early forays gave a first glimpse More…

Ferrari’s most aggressively-designed car for a number of years made its track debut at Jerez on Tuesday, and afterwards its designer explained the approach the team is taking to the opening test of pre-season. The F2012 features a number of wholesale technical departures compared to last year’s disappointing challenger, notably pull-rod front and rear suspensions along with fundamental changes towards the rear of the car. Although the team’s recent cars have proved disappointing, Ferrari has nonetheless often been consistently at the sharp end of the winter testing timesheets with its cars invariably proving reliable out of the box. On Monday More…

Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis has admitted the team’s relative underachievement in recent years means the whole company is feeling the pressure to deliver consistent race-winning performances this year. At the launch of the team’s F2012 on Friday its management and drivers put emphasis on the deliberately more aggressive approach the squad has taken in the conception process for this year’s car, after being accused of lacking innovation in recent years. The car duly the most striking stepped nose of the 2012 challenger’s released to date, while the team has broken with recent design convention by reintroducing a pull-rod front More…

When we look back on the 2012 F1 season in photos and yearbooks, we will wince at the ugliness of the cars, especially the nose sections. Luckily it won’t last long, it’s a passing phase, because in 2014 the new rules mean a totally new generation of F1 cars. Ferrari, arguably F1′s most stylish brand, has today unveiled the F2012. It’s a car whose nose is aesthetically challenged, but if it’s fast, no-one at Maranello will care about that. And it needs to be fast, because this needs to be the year Ferrari gets back into the winners’ circle on More…

The forthcoming season is unquestionably an important one for Ferrari, and with just a few days to go until the launch of their 2012 car, the team’s race drivers have been completing their winter training programme in Lanzarote. The specialist pre-season training camp, in sunnier climes to the traditional northern European winter, has long been a staple of many teams’ preparations ahead of a new season, giving them the chance to put their drivers through some rigorous exercises as well as providing an opportunity for team building. Ferrari have chosen the Canary island for their training camp in recent days, More…

Today the Sahara Force India team confirmed the story which we first ran during the Brazil GP weekend: that Jules Bianchi will become its third driver. The 22 year old Frenchman will have the opportunity to drive on at least nine Grand Prix weekends in the Friday morning practice session. He will join a small but growing number of young drivers getting some regular track time on Fridays, including Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Lotus’ Jerome D’Ambrosio. Caterham are likely to have someone in that role and Marussia has also made use of the Friday morning opportunity too. It’s the right More…

Italian technical journalist Giorgio Piola has struck again, releasing some details of the new Ferrari due to be launched at Maranello on Friday February 3rd. The car has been described as “ugly” by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and it’s certainly a new departure from the DNA of Ferraris of recent years, but all there are agreed that if it’s fast enough, it will certainly be beautiful! Among the indiscretions Piola has published in Gazzetta dello Sport today are that the suspension is a pull-rod system, the first on a Ferrari for 11 years. This is what Red Bull has More…