The eagerly awaited moment is finally here: the Ferrari FF – brought on stage by Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, CEO Amedeo Felisa, Vice Chairman Piero Ferrari, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa as well as the test drivers Raffaele de Simone and Dario Benuzzi — is presented to the public.
For his 50th birthday the actor Hugh Grant visited Maranello where he met Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, visited the works and even tested some cars on the track. Before he left he gave Ferrari.com an interview: his first car, the Ferraris and his age as well as his love for women, cars and cats are just some of the things he spoke about with us.
Filed under: Motorsports, Ferrari
Luca di Montezemolo has never been one to mince words. The outspoken president of Ferrari – who until recently also chaired the Fiat group as well as the Formula One Teams Association – consistently makes headlines for speaking his mind, and has of late focused his criticism on the backmarker teams (principally comprised of newcomers), which most recently cost his star driver Fernando Alonso position – and arguably the lead – in last week’s Canadian Grand Prix.
During the closing laps of the Montreal round, Alonso lost the lead to race leader Lewis Hamilton when Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus got in the way, and dropped further to third behind Jenson Button when Karun Chandhok’s HRT blocked his way past.
In speaking with Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport, Montezemolo said that the newcomers are running closer to the pace of the lower-rung GP2 series and ought to leave the bigger teams to race in F1. To fill their slots on the grid, Montezemolo has long advocated allowing teams like his to run a third car. His former right-hand man Jean Todt, now president of the FIA, is reportedly in favor of instituting a qualifying threshold that would force the backmarker teams to either shape up or ship out.
[Source: Autosport | Image: Pascal Guyot/AFP/Getty]
F1 backmarkers should drop to GP2, says Montezemolo originally appeared on Ferrari News on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Misc. Auto Shows, Ferrari
If a V12 convertible strikes you as the quintessential Ferrari layout, it may come as a bit of a surprise to realize that Maranello hasn’t made one since 2006. That’s when the bizarre flip-top 575M Superamerica finished its limited run of 559 units. And Ferrari hasn’t made a V12 convertible since.
That’s all about to change, however, as early as two months from now, according to a report from Autocar magazine. In a recent conversation with the British publication, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has confirmed that a roadster based on the 599 GTB Fiorano is set to make its debut later this summer at Pebble Beach. Coupled with the 599XX, HGTE, HY-KERS concept, GTO, China edition and the one-off P540 Superfast Aptera, that will make quite an array of Fiorano variants over the course of four short years.
Like the Superamerica (and the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina before it), the 599 roadster will be an limited-edition affair, and we don’t mean “limited to however many we can produce and sell.” No word on whether the convertible Fiorano will adopt the same sort of rotary top mechanism as fitted to the Superamerica, or a more conventional softtop like the F430 Spider or a folding hardtop like the California.
While Montezemolo wouldn’t confirm the name, he said it won’t be called the Superamerica, but “will have an emotional, romantic name such as Italia or Fiorano”. If we had to guess, we’d go with “599 GTS Monza”, but we won’t guess too loud. Legend has it that when he learned the press had already dubbed the 365 GTB/4 as the “Daytona”, Enzo himself dropped the official moniker. Not that it stopped anyone from calling it that, or that Il Commendatore is still around for that matter, but we hear they’re reading Ferrari News in supercar-magnate heaven these days.
Gallery: Ferrari 599 GTB HGTE
[Source: Autocar]
Ferrari to unveil limited-edition 599 roadster at Pebble Beach? originally appeared on Ferrari News on Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Mr Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari’s Chairman, presents the World Premiere of the Hybrid 599 GTB Fiorano Concept Car.
