While we knew Formula 1 racing was an expensive venture, leave it to the 2008/2009 edition of Formula Money to spell-out the jaw-dropping finances for us. According to their latest guide, the supporting cast will shell out over $3 billion this year in team resources -- with Toyota dropping more than $445 million of it alone. McLaren is a close second at $433 million, while Ferrari rounds out the top three with $414 million coming out of pocket. If you take a look at team resources divided by points scored, each point cost Ferrari $1.9 million in 2007 (while each point cost Honda a staggering $57.2 million during the same period!). With the financial markets around the world roiled in turmoil, many are wondering when the F1 budgets are going to feel the pinch...
Ferrari announced during the first practice day of this weekend's Monza GP that Kimi Raikkonen's contract has been extended by one year. This mean's he's locked into service with the scuderia until the end of 2010, which is the same time Felipe Massa's contract runs out. Terms of the extension weren't disclosed, but the fact that Ferrari re-signed the Iceman means they aren't nearly as worried about his recent form as the rest of the paddock appears to be. It also means that Fernando Alonso can now decide where he wants to go for at least two years and get the silly season officially over with.
Some of the more hard-core tifosi have been whining that Ferrari has gone soft with the new California. It's pretty hard to justify that a car able to hit 60 mph in the three-second range is soft, but so be it. The nay-sayers point to the inclusion of a folding hard-top as a sign that Ferrari has grown more concerned with pleasing its poseur clientele than developing genuine performance vehicles. Never mind that the innovative rapid-deployment roof, according to Ferrari, actually weighs 5kg less than an equivalent soft-top and still only takes 14 seconds to raise or lower. However, Maranello has not finished development of the California and intends to pacify those malcontents with some new features. For starters, Ferrari says that about 10% of its customers still demand a manual transmission, and so they will have one ready for the California by the time it actually goes on sale about half a year from now. Around the same time, Ferrari will also unveil a new HGTC handling package, like those offered for the 612 Scaglietti and the previous 575 M Maranello, to tighten up the California's suspension. A new set of lightweight wheels is also in the works, anticipated to shave some 10-12kg off of the unsprung weight. A 430 Scuderia it is not – that's why Ferrari makes both – but don't mistake the California for a lazy boulevard cruiser.
![[SPOILER ALERT] Turkish Grand Prix was dog gone good](http://blog.niot.net/blog-images/12_may/spoiler-alert-turkish-grand-prix-was-dog-gone-good.jpg)
The real story coming out of this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix should be the fact that Ferrari won again and Lewis Hamilton is driving better than any other driver in F1, but a stray dog that was struck and killed on track during a GP2 Series by Bruno Senna - nephew of Ayrton, yes that Ayrton - has dominated much of the F1 headlines. There's video of it after the jump for those with hardy stomachs.
But back to the racing. After having dominated the prior week's Spanish Grand Prix by finishing one-two, Ferrari once again crowded the podium stand with two top-three finishers, though not in order this time. Felipe Massa, whose performance the last three races has marked an impressive turnaround, captured the checkered flag - his second of the season and third in a row in Turkey - by driving a very clean race. He was, however, passed by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton mid-race, who had an impressive race all around. Some say Hamilton drove the race of his career at this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix, but his team's strategy of a three-pit race ultimately did him in, as Massa's two-pit strategy gave him enough lead time to hold off Hamilton. Third place was earned by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who will take the points to pad his slim points lead over teammate Massa and Hamilton.
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With the debut of the Ferrari 149 GT California (or something like that) just around the corner, new shots of the Ferrari mule have surfaced at Autogespot, revealing a few more details about the entry-level Fezza. Unlike some spy pics we've seen that obscure everything from the B-pillar back, these newest images show a steeply raked rear windscreen that terminates into an artificially elongated trunk, rumored to house a folding hard top. The front clip is sporting a large radiator intake and the hood stretches back in true Ferrari style. As reported before, Project F149 is rumored to be powered by a 4.7-liter V8 producing 480 to 500 hp. More details are expected soon. We're standing by.
Sound the alarm and turn up your speakers – Ferrari has a security breach. Someone managed to get a good vantage point with a video camera over the company's private Fiorano test track in Maranello and caught the oft-photographed test mule of the upcoming new Ferrari model lapping the track at full throttle.
Known internally as project F149 and alternatively referred to externally as the Dino or GT California, the new model is expected to feature four seats and a retractable hard top. Although rumor has it that Maserati may be delegated the assembly (including the 4.7-liter V8 it makes for the GranTurismo S and Alfa 8C), this beast sounds every bit like a purebred stallion. Follow the jump to see for yourself.
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Though most other F1 teams have banished cigarette advertisements from their fenders in the past few years, Ferrari has stubbornly displayed Marlboro logos on its formula one cars wherever the law allows. Someone within Ferrari has apparently had a change of heart, as many noticed at the Bahrain Grand Prix earlier this month that the F2008 car was without its familiar cigarette advertisements, despite the laws of that country allowing their presence. In their place was what's been referred to as the "barcode" livery, which some say looks like the Marlboro branding from a distance, but is really just white markings that don't mean anything. After the race, Ferrari did confirm that Marlboro logos would no longer appear on its cars, which kind of ends an era of sorts. Despite the absence of its logos on the F2008, Marlboro is reportedly still happy to be a sponsor of Ferrari and will remain so until at least 2011 when the contract it signed worth around $1 billion runs out.
