very happy for you momo " title="there" />

i hope this is over.... RIP for the people gone " title="sad" />

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Ferrari auction to help earthquake victims
31 May 2012

Following the two significant earthquakes which have struck Italy over the past fortnight, Ferrari has organised an on-line auction of motoring memorabilia. All funds will go directly to those families who have lost loved ones in the recent tragedies.

The auction will be staged on www.ferraristore.com, allowing somebody to get their hands on items such as a rare 599XX Evo which has a value of 1.3 million euros (£1m).

Formula 1 collectables will be the main attraction; these will include a V8 engine, such as those still seen on the track today, plus race overalls and helmets donated especially by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Parts of older cars will also be auctioned off.

On Tuesday, Ferrari sent all Maranello factory workers home early as a second earthquake within the space of ten days, with a 5.8 magnitude, hit the Bologna region.

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http://www.gpupdate.net

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Ferrari's Nikolas Tombazis says improved form has boosted belief team can win 2012 F1 crown
Tuesday, June 19th 2012, 15:37 GMT

Ferrari 2012 Formula 1Ferrari's chief designer Nikolas Tombazis says the team's recent improvement has given its crew the self-belief that they can still win the 2012 Formula 1 world championship.

Despite a fraught winter testing period that ended with the Ferrari F2012 a long way off the pace, Fernando Alonso was able to win the Malaysian Grand Prix and since the Spanish GP has been a legitimate victory threat in every race. The Spaniard is currently two points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

"Rightly or wrongly there is an expectation that, as Ferrari, we must be winning every race and always be competitive," said Tombazis. "At the start of the season we were in an uncompetitive situation, which was a big shock for me personally and for my colleagues.

"It has been a hard few months, but we put our heads down and tackled the problem calmly and I think the last few races have been a morale boost for all of us: it has made us believe we can get the job done."

A late decision to change an unsuccessful exhaust layout in winter testing was key to Ferrari's initial struggles, but Tombazis said introducing a revision of the original exhaust design for the Canadian GP was crucial to the team's latest step forward.

"The exhaust layout in Montreal was a cousin of the one we tested in Jerez at the launch," he said. "The former one was more complicated and created various problems for us which meant it did not contribute much in terms of lap time or making the driver feel it was a benefit. We therefore abandoned it, while addressing other weaknesses on the car, until we reached the first major change which came in time for the Spanish Grand Prix.

"That had a different, central exhaust configuration, at a point when we had effectively reviewed the entire car, from its front wing, the diffuser, the rear wing and turning vanes and brake ducts, producing what was in aero terms effectively a new car.

"However, we kept working on the exhausts to develop a more robust and simple system, but it still related to the original one and that is what we introduced in Canada."

Ferrari will bring further exhaust developments plus changes to the front wing and floor for this weekend's Valencia race, as Tombazis said the team would continue pushing for upgrades at the same rate even now it had caught the frontrunners.

"At the moment, we are reasonably satisfied with the point we are at now, given where we started from. However we cannot be totally happy, as we are not in a position to dominate races, or indeed to win all of them, which is always one's objective," he said.

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www.autosport.com

Great post.

I agree that Ferrari have looked like an improved team. And have so far seemed to put the demons away which have haunted good points in the past. Even though they have not produced the best car for 2012: I think they have done more than any other manufacturer to maximize their point totals. McLaren have thrown away enough points in the pit lane to arguably put Hamilton atop the WDC standings. Red Bull didn't start with the best car.. But it was certainly better than Ferrari. A combination of driver error (Vettel and "geurkin") and reliability (Valencia) have kept Vettel from topping the standings. Lotus could arguably have Raikkonen near the top if it could allow Kimi to turn on his tyres for 1 lap in quali. But his starting grid positions have failed to produce the points hall the lotus is deserving of. Putting the car aside: I think alonso and Ferrari have maximized the driver/car package and thus lead the WDC fight despite having arguably the fourth best car on the grid. I give the team credit. But the season is still young. Let's wait and see how the team holds up in the next few races. They are heading to some circuits where the other contenders should hold an advantage..

Zitat von Ragingjamaican

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The Ferrari car is solid, it's not bad on any track, apart from Bahrain, they've been there or thereabouts in all the races so far.

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But what does solid mean in 2012? Fourth best car? In a season with such narrow gaps in performance: it makes Fernando sound better when we say he is leading the WDC in the fourth best car.

Do you agree? Or think possibly it's better than one of the top 3 cars?