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From GMM

Luca di Montezemolo on Thursday hit reverse gear, after he was quoted as having threatened to pull Ferrari out of formula one.

The Italian marque's president made the clear warning last week to the respected Wall Street Journal, as he insisted that any Le Mans foray for Ferrari by 2020 would be at the expense of F1.

Montezemolo has been highly critical of the new shape of the pinnacle of motor sport, and has reportedly written a letter to Bernie Ecclestone asking for a meeting with all the major stakeholders to discuss the future.

Motorhome Ferrari. (Photo: WRi2)

But it is believed Ferrari's highly critical stance was discussed at length during the F1 Commission meeting on Wednesday, and two days later Montezemolo is now tempering his earlier remarks.

"A letter to Ecclestone? I don't need to write to him to arrange a meeting," multiple Italian publications on Thursday quoted Montezemolo, 66, as saying at a Maserati event in Modena.

"I never said that Ferrari would pull out, but I do think the time has come to make a reflection on our system. I think Ferrari has the duty to seek improvements for the benefit of the teams, the fans, the media and the sponsors.

"And I think that, having been in formula one for 64 years, Ferrari has the right to think about the future," he added.

"Formula one is an extraordinary sport," said Montezemolo, "but we need to do something to make it better."

From GMM

Crucial talks about the future of formula one are speeding ahead.

Between the Canadian and Austrian grands prix, team bosses, FIA president Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone reportedly got together for meetings in London.

It was about finding urgent cost reduction proposals that bridge the divide between F1's most competitive teams and the second half of the grid, who are angry about the lack of cooperation from their more powerful rivals.

Any proposals that got a majority vote on Wednesday will be presented to the FIA's World Motor Sport Council in its Munich meeting on June 26.

By then, time will be up for any other meaningful cost-saving for 2015, as post July 1, only rules with an almost-impossible unanimous vote can be introduced for next year.

According to Italy's Autosprint, only two major rule changes are likely next year.

The first that has reportedly been voted through is the shakeup of the grand prix weekend format, with Thursday's media activities and Friday morning practice both axed.

"The idea came up, let's not do the Friday and save engine and gearbox miles -- it's about one (less) engine a year. And that is, if not (a saving of) millions, it's at least a million or a million and a half," Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told Sky.

Autosprint said the F1 weekend from 2015 will now begin late on a Friday, with two 45 minute practice sessions, separated by a half-hour break.

Lotus' Romain Grosjean is supportive.

"As long as there's a grand prix and qualifying session, that's the main thing!" said the Frenchman.

Another proposal voted for in London will force teams to keep a single engine-gearbox-rear suspension layout attached to the race chassis for the entire race weekend.

It is also rumoured that, at the meeting, Ferrari was chided for its latest quit threat, while declining television audiences and restless sponsors were also discussed.

Photo: WRi2

From GMM

The words 'Keep fighting Michael' are to remain on Mercedes' dominant F1 car.

The German squad - F1 legend Michael Schumacher's last grand prix team during his 2010-2012 comeback - has been running the twitter hashtag on the cockpit of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's silver W05 all year.

But better news is now emerging from the Schumacher camp.

His management has confirmed he is no longer in a coma, and he has been moved from intensive care in Grenoble to a rehabilitation ward in Lausanne, near his Swiss home.

The Swiss tabloid Blick on Wednesday said the great German travelled the 200 kilometres between France and Switzerland on Monday by ambulance, and Bild newspaper quotes chief neurosurgeon Richard Frackowiak as confirming the transfer went "very, very well".

Ambulance staff reportedly had to surrender their mobile phones prior to the journey, and Schumacher's booking was done under a false name to protect his privacy.

Nonetheless, further details have emerged. Blick said reports that Schumacher has lost a lot of weight are true, but that Schumacher - who was awake for much of the trip - was able to communicate to the ambulance staff by nodding his head.

Robert Belvi, the chief neurologist at a Barcelona university hospital, said the latest developments in the Schumacher story are positive.

"Waking from a coma means establishing contact with the environment," he told Spain's AS newspaper, "for instance the patient can respond to simple commands -- open or close your eyes, stick out your tongue.

"If he obeys, there is a clear communication between the brain and the environment. Coming out of coma really is a very good prognosis.

"Schumacher has answered the first question: is he awake or in a vegetative state. Now we have to see where the recovery goes, and hopefully it is to 100 per cent.

"It's difficult to see the same person as before, in terms of language, movement. This all depends on the injuries he has suffered.

"But when a patient has woken up, things usually go very fast. The first three months will decide what is Schumacher's pace of recovery and what the lasting injuries will be," Dr Belvi added.

World champion Sebastian Vettel and Schumacher's former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg this week have both said they do not plan to visit Schumacher at this stage.

"That would not be inappropriate," Rosberg told Bild, "as I'm not in his immediate circle of friends."

But he tipped Schumacher to eventually win his toughest battle.

"I remember one of his last races, in Austin, he was still flat out on every lap even though we were fighting for tenth place or something," the German recalled.

"Then he sat down with us for a two-hour debriefing. After what he achieved in his career, you could forgive him for doing something else, but not him. That's why I know that if anyone can fight back from this, it's Schumi," added Rosberg.

So, for now, the Mercedes stickers are staying on the team's championship-leading 2014 car.

"The Schumi sticker will stay on the car as long as Michael is fighting his difficult fight," confirmed team boss Toto Wolff.

Two senators said they want to raise the federal gasoline and diesel tax by 12 cents a gallon to prevent a fund that pays for about half of the country's transportation projects from running out of money in August.

A new lawsuit says General Motors should compensate millions of car and truck owners for lost resale value, potentially exceeding $10 billion, because a slew of recalls and a deadly delay in recalling cars with defective ignition switches has...

A GM employee who continued to notice safety issues in vehicles and spoke up was transferred to a job where he was instructed to 'not find every problem that GM might have,' according to a Bloomberg Businessweek story posted today.

For the first time, Hyundai-Kia group topped rival automakers in J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study, while last year's leader, General Motors, fell to third.

American Honda's Acura division has signed a three-year agreement to support the Tiger Woods Foundation and three related golf tournaments associated with the star golfer's educational efforts.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened two investigations covering about 1.

GM CEO Mary Barra told members of Congress today that the automaker now considers unexpected vehicle shutoffs to be a safety concern, reversing a policy that had treated complaints about the Chevrolet Cobalt as low priority.

For the first time, Hyundai-Kia group topped rival automakers in JD Power's Initial Quality Study, while last year's leader, General Motors, fell to third.

Daimler will "significantly" raise production capacity at its U.S. plant from around 185,000 cars, as it adds new models including the new Mercedes C class and an SUV based on the Concept SUV Coupe unveiled at the Beijing auto show earlier this year.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau has published the statistics for the most-stolen SUVs in the U.S., examining a period between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2013.

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The media preview of CDMS 2014, the 17th Chengdu motor show, took place on 29 August. The following vehicles and concepts were world premieres.

The media preview of CDMS 2014, the 17th Chengdu motor show, took place on 29 August. The following list continues to be updated as manufacturers announce world premieres.

The media preview of CDMS 2014, the 17th Chengdu motor show, took place on 29 August. The following list continues to be updated as manufacturers announce world premieres.

The media preview of CDMS 2014, the 17th Chengdu motor show, takes place on 29 August. The following list continues to be updated as manufacturers announce world premieres.

The media preview of CDMS 2014, the 17th Chengdu motor show, takes place on 29 August. The following list continues to be updated as manufacturers announce world premieres.