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From GMM

The 'T-word' was still the big topic of conversation as the F1 world congregated in Monaco on Wednesday.

But the big paddock whisper is that changes to Pirelli's 2013 tires will be only minor in Montreal next month and beyond.

According to the strong and widespread rumour, the only minor change will be to the rear tires -- which is good news for Ferrari and Lotus, and not-so-good for Mercedes and Red Bull.

"Anything else would be unfair," Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport. "You can't change everything just because some teams can't cope with the tires. We can live with the idea of stronger rear tires. I think that will help everybody."

The Finn is also quoted by MTV3 broadcaster: "The fairest thing would be to continue with the current tires, but I know there is a lot of pressure to change something."

It is believed teams will learn more about the rear tire tweak on Thursday.

Photo: Pirelli

In the meantime, the issue continues to divide the paddock. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso said Red Bull's complaining is just sour grapes.

"It sometimes happens when you win too easily for some years, it's difficult to lose some races after," he told English-language reporters.

In his native Spanish tongue, however, Alonso was even more blunt.

"I believe this year we are seeing that they (Red Bull) are not all angels. We saw it in Malaysia and now with these statements. When you win in an easy way for a few years, you can forget how to lose," the Spaniard added.

At the very same time, Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel continued to boldly criticise the Pirelli situation.

He is quoted by SID news agency: "It's like a professional skier having to change for the following season to wooden skis.

"I don't want to speak ill of people," added Vettel, "but in this context they (Pirelli) need to do a better job. We have seen repeatedly that the surface of the tire comes off. This is because they are not good enough."

He is quoted by Italy's Autosprint: "None of us want our tread to come off in the tunnel."

However, Vettel rejects the idea that Red Bull is complaining more than any other team.

"I think you (journalists) would rather quote us than Marussia for example. But in the driver meetings I even hear Lotus complain that they have the same problem as us, but less extremely. So we're not the only ones complaining," the German added.

Mercedes' Nico Rosberg managed to top the times in both free practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix, thus living up to the prediction that the silver cars would be quick around the Principality.

The first session saw Rosberg take fastest time from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by a mere 0.087 seconds and Lotus' Romain Grosjean who finished a strong third.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG. (Photo: WRi2)

The Frenchman managed to pip Alonso's teammate, Felipe Massa, to the final top-three slot in the final minutes of the session.

However, not for the first time this season, there was little on-track action in the first 30 of the 90-minute session, with most drivers choosing to set their quickest time around the halfway mark.

Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus. (Photo: WRi2)

The No. 10 Mercedes AMG of Lewis Hamilton was fifth despite having to use an escape road at Sainte Devote, whilst 13th placed man, Adrian Sutil, had the only other incident in the session after he spun his Sahara Force India in the same place.

Pastor Maldonado was sixth, in a competitive showing for the beleaguered Williams squad, one place ahead of last year's winner, Mark Webber in his Red Bull.

The two McLarens of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez split the Australian from Red Bull teammate Vettel who had a quiet session down in ninth.

Monaco - Free Practice session 1 - Results*
1 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'16"195 - 31 laps
2 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 1'16"282 - 26
3 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'16"380 - 21
4 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'16"394 - 23
5 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'16"469 - 28
6 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'16"993 - 27
7 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'17"020 - 27
8 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'17"129 - 29
9 - Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'17"378 - 25
10 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'17"380 - 23
11 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'17"509 - 26
12 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'17"548 - 27
13 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'17"625 - 20
14 - Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'18"193 - 26
15 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'18"454 - 25
16 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'18"754 - 28
17 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'18"830 - 28
18 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'19"067 - 25
19 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'19"203 - 21
20 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'19"438 - 28
21 - Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'19"773 - 20
22 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'20"225 - 21

Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne wearing a replica helmet of Francois Cevert, his F1 heroe. (Photo: WRi2)

The second session saw Rosberg underline the Mercedes' pace once again and jump to the top of the timesheets, this time ahead of Hamilton and by a larger margin of 0.318s.

The German driver set his quickest time around the 30-minute mark and remained unbeaten until the chequered flag dropped at around 3:30 p.m. CET.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari. (Photo: WRi2)

The Ferraris were third and fourth with Alonso leading Massa once again.

Webber managed to improve his morning's position to fifth, ahead of the Lotus' of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, both of whom are expected to show strong pace in the race, despite being relatively low key today.

The Frenchman was also the only casualty of the session, after he shunted his Lotus at the exit of Sainte Devote.

Mark Webber, Red Bull. (Photo: WRi2)

Jenson Button was eighth, ahead of a yet again quiet Sebastian Vettel and Paul di Resta's Force India.

Having shown strong pace in FP1, Pastor Maldonado finished the afternoon session in 14th, four places ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Monaco - Free Practice session 2 - Results*
1 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'14"759 - 45 laps
2 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'15"077 - 50
3 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 1'15"196 - 37
4 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'15"278 - 38
5 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'15"404 - 41
6 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'15"511 - 38
7 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'15"718 - 10
8 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'15"959 - 39
9 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'16"014 - 32
10 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'16"046 - 42
11 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'16"349 - 43
12 - Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'16"434 - 40
13 - Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'16"823 - 42
14 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'16"857 - 40
15 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'16"935 - 44
16 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'17"145 - 37
17 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'17"184 - 42
18 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'17"264 - 46
19 - Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'17"892 - 40
20 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'18"212 - 43
21 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'18"784 - 40
22 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'19"031 - 30

* Unofficial timing

From GMM

Pat Fry will return to duty for Ferrari this weekend in Monaco.

The great Italian team's British technical director had his appendix removed in a Barcelona hospital less than two weeks ago, forcing him to miss qualifying and the Spanish grand prix.

Mathias Bruner, the correspondent for German-language Speed Week, said 49-year-old Fry will also sit out Thursday's practice sessions in Monaco.

"But on Friday he will be in Monaco," he added, "and in the pits as usual on Saturday and Sunday."

Photo: GP3 Series

From GMM

Wednesday was a costly day in Monaco for Mercedes.

According to Swiss newspaper Blick's veteran F1 correspondent Roger Benoit, Lewis Hamilton lost his temper with a boatload of photographers whilst jet-skiing in the Monaco harbour.

The report said Hamilton performed an extra-tight turn in front of the photographers, deliberately soaking their photo and TV cameras and mobile phones with a wave of seawater.

"An expensive prank," said Benoit. "Hamilton's team Mercedes apologised and paid for the $150,000 (!) in damage."

Later, Hamilton spoke to reporters in the Monaco paddock for his usual media duties with his pet Roscoe - a bulldog - snoring loudly on his lap.

Photo: Mercedes AMG F1 Team

Citing a $600 million loss over the last five years due to high costs and a strong Australian dollar, Ford will terminate all its production operations down under in October 2016, thereby eliminating 1,200 jobs. The Blue Oval will continue to import vehicles through more than 200 dealers, however.

Some insiders believe the adoption of the stricter Euro 5 emission standards in Australia starting on November 1st, 2016 put the final nail in the coffin.

“Our costs are double that of Europe and nearly four times Ford in Asia,” Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano said. “The business case simply did not stack up. Manufacturing is not viable for Ford in Australia.”

The company has sold vehicles in Australia for almost 110 years and manufactured in the country since 1925, when founder Henry Ford first started assembling Model Ts there.

Australian auto industry by the numbers:

• 1.1 million cars built in 2012;
• 65 makes;
• 365 models;
• 22,683,000 inhabitants.

Source: Automotive News

From GMM

Force India will oppose any move to alter Pirelli's existing 2013 tires.

It has emerged in the Monaco paddock that, following the controversial reaction to its planned significant changes for Canada and beyond, the Italian supplier now intends only to tweak the rear tires.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said the change would be only to the steel lining underneath the tread, which was overheating and causing delaminations.

Pirelli wants to revert to the kevlar lining of 2012.

"This would not change the shape of the tire, so the teams would not have to change their aerodynamics," said Paul Hembery.

Correspondent Michael Schmidt, however, thinks the change could alter slightly the behaviour of the tire, because temperatures would drop by up to ten degrees and reduce graining.

But motor sport director Hembery insists: "This change would not punish those who are already doing well with these tires."

Nevertheless, Pirelli will struggle to get the change through.

"We will not agree to any change," said Force India's sporting director Otmar Szafnauer.

"Pirelli needs unanimity, and so nothing is going to change," he promised.

Photo: Sahara Force India

"We built our car based on the specifications given to us by Pirelli in September 2012. Changing the steel ring for kevlar changes the dynamics of the tire, which some teams might prefer. We don't see why Pirelli should intervene just because a few teams are having problems. They should change their cars instead," added Szafnauer.

He also does not sympathise with Pirelli wanting to make the change to stop rear tire deliminations.

"The tires are safe," he said, "because when they are damaged they are still inflated. It just looks stupid, but we don't agree to the change just so Pirelli can have a better image."

In 15 years of development, Audi has set standards with its ultra-lightweight of LMP1 endurance sports prototypes.

Photo: Audi Motorsport

Since 1999, ultra-lightweight design has been playing a central role with Audi's Le Mans prototypes (LMP). Materials, such as CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic), harbor major potential for optimizing weight.

Even in its first LMP sports car - the R8R of 1999 - Audi used a carbon fiber monocoque. Audi has significantly been reducing weight to this day.

Although a closed cockpit requires the use of more material Audi has managed to cut the weight of the monocoque in half between 1999 and today, while surpassing all the safety and crash requirements of the FIA.

Carbon monocoque (Photo: Audi Motorsport)

Furthermore, Audi managed to again increase the torsional strength of the monocoque during this period of time despite the 50 percent reduction in weight.

The chassis design is complemented by the transmission housing. Since 2012, it has been made of a lightweight and stable full-carbon construction in which the mounting points for the rear axle are integrated. In addition, very light backstays from the monocoque to the transmission housing optimize the stiffness of the rear end.

Audi's V6 TDI engine (Photo: Audi Motorsport)

Additionally, numerous smaller solutions have been accompanying the major steps. The carbon fiber gas pedal in the Audi R10 TDI already saved a few hundred grams of weight compared with an aluminum version.

The lithium-ion battery that was used for the first time in the 2009 R15 TDI even proved to be seven kilograms lighter than a lead storage battery.

Carbon transmission casing (Photo: Audi Motorsport)

From GMM

Mercedes on Thursday hit back at reports Lewis Hamilton racked up a huge damage bill after a jet-skiing stunt in Monaco.

A Swiss newspaper had said the 2008 world champion performed an extra-tight turn in front of a boat of photographers on Wednesday, deliberately soaking and damaging photo and TV cameras and mobile phones.

Blick journalist Roger Benoit said Mercedes had apologised and vowed to pay the $150,000 repair bill.

But a Mercedes source on Thursday insisted that the story was not the classic case of a celebrity lashing out at paparazzi.

Rather, Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were performing on jet-skis for a television film crew.

Photo: Mercedes AMG F1 Team

And the claims about the cost of the damage to equipment was also wrong, the source said.

"The TV equipment is fine, as Sky themselves confirmed to journalists asking questions yesterday," said the source.

"One photographer who failed to protect his camera equipment got some water inside it. But not specifically from something Lewis did. As he is a freelancer, we will make the goodwill gesture of helping to repair/replace the equipment," he added.

Ford, saddled with high costs, falling sales and financial losses, will close its Australian car and engine assembly plants in 2016, ending almost nine decades of manufacturing in the country.

Leh Keen and the Farnbacher Racing team may have only completed 20 of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring race over the weekend, but they gave us the best and scariest visual of the event by far.

2013 Ford C-Max Energi SEL

This plug-in version of the C-Max costs far more than the conventional hybrid, and we don't think it's worth it.

If you're keeping score at home, the price difference between the C-Max Energi and the regular Ford C-Max is exactly $4550. What does the extra money get you? A big surprise when you pop the C-Max Energi's optional power liftgate: 5.3 cubic feet of the cargo area is filled with a 7.8 kWh battery pack, charged exclusively by the plug located just beneath the A-pillar window insert. It's enough to power the C-Max, gas-free, for up to 21 miles.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Ford C-Max Energi SEL - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Ford C-Max Energi SEL - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

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Gentex, a maker of rearview mirrors and electronics parts, said its CFO and vice president of finance has left the company but will remain a consultant with the supplier.

The Lola T-160 was first introduced to the public as a quarter-scale fiberglass model at a 1968 United States Road Racing Championship race.

We were stunned when the RM Auctions Villa Erba catalog thudded down on our desk a few weeks ago: The beautifully photographed, info-packed, 300-page tome --meant to entice well-heeled enthusiasts to the May 25 auction on the shores of Italy's Lake...

VL Automotive and Chinese Investment Group Wanxiang are looking to buy troubled automotive manufacturer Fisker. Maker of the curvaceous

Chinese business interests are again reportedly moving to buy financially crippled electric car start-up Fisker Automotive.

2014 Maserati Quattroporte S Q4 First Drive

Trading eight for six and four

A couple of months after the launch of the V-8-engined Quattroporte GTS, Maserati will introduce the entry-level Quattroporte S powered by a new turbocharged V-6 engine. Maserati's entry level is still a pretty lofty level, with a price tag of just over $100,000, a 410-hp powerplant, and the same XXL footprint that measures 207 inches in length and 77 inches in width. Even with only six cylinders and 3.0 liters of displacement, the lesser Modenese luxury liner can keep up with such V8-engined rivals as the Audi A8 4.0 TFSI quattro, the BMW 750i xDrive, and the Mercedes-Benz S500 4Matic. "That's my point, exactly," emphasizes a beaming Harald Wester, who runs the Maserati brand and is the senior engineer of the Fiat Car Group. "The new Quattroporte combines V-8 performance with V-6 fuel economy. The four-wheel-drive model accelerates in 4.9 seconds from 0-62 mph, reaches a maximum speed of 177 mph and averages 27 mpg . Thanks to the better traction, the all-wheel-drive version is 0.2 seconds quicker off the mark than its rear-wheel-drive counterpart." So why can't we have all-wheel drive with the V-8 GTS? "It's a packaging issue," explains Wester. "But we are looking at it."

Photo Gallery: 2014 Maserati Quattroporte S Q4 First Drive - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2014 Maserati Quattroporte S Q4 First Drive - Automobile Magazine

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A colleague who shall remain nameless asked, among fellow journalists, the rhetorical question during the European launch of the third generation IS: given the success of Audi, BMW and Mercedes on home European turf, why does Lexus bother?

Michael Stanton, a longtime lobbyist and a driving force for automakers in public policy, plans to retire as president and CEO of the Association of Global Automakers in early 2014.

Lotus is adding an Exige S Roadster to its lineup, based on the new Exige we saw at the Frankfurt auto show. Unfortunately the road-car version will not come to the United States.