Autoblog

In the ever-increasingly competitive world of F1 racing, many teams have begun scouting for drivers earlier and earlier in their careers. In the past, smaller teams would scout the talent, and then the bigger teams would poach them with their vast resources. But in the wake of the immense success of McLaren's rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton, nobody can afford to rest on their proverbial laurels. Now, following existing programs at rival teams Renault, Honda, Toyota and McLaren, Ferrari is launching a young driver development program of its own.

The initial news came in last week from team principal Stefano Domenicali, and has now been substantiated by a new joint announcement from Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo in conjunction with Gino Macaluso, head of Italian racing federation ACI-CSAI. The Scuderia will offer test drives to Mirko Bortollotti, Edoardo Piscopo and Salvatore Cicatelli – the top three finishers in this year's Italian Formula 3 championship. If Ferrari decides to contract any of the drivers for a future race seat, they would be the first Italian driver for the Scuderia since the colorful Ivan Capelli (who, incidentally, won the Italian F3 title in 1983) raced the crimson cars way back in 1992. Now excuse us while we go sign up for next year's Italian F3 season.

[Source: Autosport]

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.

[Source: F1 Live]

Many of the biggest teams in Formula One extract enormous budgets from the automakers that own them: BMW, Renault, Toyota, Honda, even Mercedes-Benz, which is part owner of McLaren. Not Ferrari, though. The team, part of the Maranello-based sportscar maker, is owned by the Fiat auto group. However, Fiat does not contribute even one centesimo (er... euro-cent) to the team's budget.

This according to Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. And he should know, being both president of Ferrari and chairman of Fiat (in the mid-'70s, Montezemolo directly headed up the Scuderia before being promoted up the Fiat ladder). The marquis insists that the entirety of the Ferrari F1 team's budget is generated from within Ferrari, through the sales of its road cars (all of which go for six digits) and the team's sponsors, to say nothing of the company's considerable merchandising efforts.

[Source: The Daily Telegraph via F1-Live, Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty]

Shell's PR people appear to have a handle on how best to exploit the company's relationship with Scuderia Ferrari. Whether it's the spine-tingling spot that depicts historic Ferrari grand prix cars running on the streets in famous locales, or the very amusing "What will Schumi do next?" series (there were two spots), the videos offer a pleasant respite from the daily grind.

Today we got word that Shell's back at it, and its new viral video star is Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. In the spot above, Massa's diminutive Fiat leaves a pair of musclecar drivers speechless, and in the one we've pasted after the jump, Felipe interacts with customers at a gas station via a hidden camera/closed-circuit TV setup. His challenge to them: imitate the sound of a racing Ferrari. Suffice to say, Michael Winslow's career is secure.

[Source: Shell via YouTube]