Auto News 5

From GMM

Sebastian Vettel has admitted his teammate Mark Webber initially had a better handle of Red Bull's 2012 car.

Ultimately, on the way to collecting his third consecutive drivers' title this year, German Vettel outscored Australian Webber by more than 100 points.

And Webber won two grands prix in 2012, both in the first half of the season, compared to Vettel's five.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber on Silverstone's podium. (Photo: WRi2)

A report in Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said Red Bull's renowned designer, Adrian Newey, "took half a season" to get the RB8 fully up to speed.

"I just felt more comfortable in the car (in the second half of the season)," Vettel explained.

"The balance was better for me than it was at the beginning, which caused problems especially in qualifying. For a long time I was not happy with the exhaust, even though it brought more downforce than the old version. I couldn't play with the car the way I wanted, to fit my driving style. I get my speed in the corners in the entry, while Mark is better at the exit. Only the last 'Coanda'-solution got me close to what we had last year," added Vettel.

The Marussia F1 Team announced Tuseday that British driver Max Chilton will make his Formula 1 racing debut with the team in 2013.

The 21-year-old Briton is the team's Reserve Driver, a role he was appointed to with effect from the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix, following his performance with the Marussia Carlin GP2 team, part of the Marussia F1 Team Young Driver Programme.

The 21-year-old Briton replaces Charles Pic, gone to Caterham.

Max Chilton's father Grahame is Chairman of Aon Benfield and Vice Chairman of Aon Group, and reportedly has a personal fortune in the region of $150 million.

The Marussia F1 Team have provided Chilton with two separate driving opportunities with which to demonstrate his talent and readiness for a Formula 1 race seat - at the 2012 Young Driver Test at Silverstone in July, and more recently the Free Practice 1 session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last month.

“On both occasions, Max has impressed with his speed, quality of feedback, ability to set up the car and potential for being able to contribute to its development. Not only that, but Max has proved an extremely popular addition to both the team and the Formula 1 Paddock in recent months,” says the Marussia press release.

From GMM

Caterham is almost ready to complete its 2013 driver lineup, new team boss Cyril Abiteboul has revealed.

Having fielded Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov this year, Caterham has already announced that Frenchman Charles Pic will drive one of the green cars next season.

Finn Kovalainen's hopes of staying in F1 are now pinned on Caterham's plans, but the sponsored drivers Petrov, Dutchman Giedo van der Garde and Bruno Senna are reportedly all also looking to the Tony Fernandes-founded team.

"There are different options," Abiteboul admitted to F1's official website.

Photo: Caterham F1 Team

Russian Petrov's hopes appeared to get a boost last week, when a delegation for his sponsor Russian Helicopters visited Caterham's factory.

"One option," Abiteboul said, "is someone who he (Pic) can learn from and who he can use as his benchmark for what we want from both our drivers. Another option, more radical, is to accept the fact that 2013 is a transition year that we use to continue building the team before a period of greater stability in 2014, when a lot of other things in the package will change. Both types of candidates are out there, and we are close to making a decision."

Mercedes AMG started the 2012 season the best way possible with Nico Rosberg's victory in China. Fitted with a tricky aerodynamic device called a double DRS, everyone expected the Mercedes W03 to be THE car to beat this year. Unfortunately, it was not the case...

Let the numbers do the talking. The team from Brackley, UK finished the season with a total of 142 points. However, 106 of those points were scored during the first 11 Grands Prix of the season (for an average of 9.6 points/race). After that, Mercedes scored just 36 in the remaining nine races (for an average of 4 points per race).

Nico Rosberg (Photo: Mercedes AMG)

After the season was over, team principal Ross Brawn admitted that having spent so much time and efforts on that infamous double DRS was a mistake.

This is quite suprising as the technical staff of the team is one of the best in the business with veteran and highly qualified engineers such as Bob Bell, Geoff Willis, Aldo Costa and Loic Bigois

Nico Rosberg
9th in the Driver's Championship with 93 points
Best place in qualifications: 1st (once, China)
Best race result: 1st (once, China), 2 podiums
Retired 3 times (in the last 6 races)

Michael Schumacher
13th in the Driver's Championship with 49 points
Best place in qualifications: 2nd (once, China)
Best race result: 3rd (once, Valencia), 1 podium
Retired 7 times (4 imes in the first 7 races)

Michael Schumacher (Photo: Mercedes AMG)

Racing in his 7th season in Formula 1, Nico Rosberg's breakthrough finally came as he scored first his maiden F1 pole and then his first F1 victory at round three in China. Then, the team suffered an unexplicable and big dip in performance, and the German driver struggled to finish in the points on a regular basis. On certain occasions, the poor Nico could do no better than fight against the Caterhams and the Toro Rossos...

With Lewis Hamilton as his new teammate next year, Rosberg will need to raise his game dramatically.

Ironically, Ross Brawn revealed that Schumacher's indecision about his future led the team to pursue Hamilton. The team needed a strong front runner for 2013, and Hamilton had a perfect career resumé. That pushed Schumacher into retirement, for good this time.

The seven-time World Champion climbed on the podium once this year, but also had all sorts of problems. He retired four times in the first seven Grands Prix and also mysteriously rear ended the cars of Bruno Senna in Spain, and Jean-Eric Vergne in Singapore.

From GMM

Gerhard Berger could be a candidate to replace Mercedes-Benz's departing head of motor sport Norbert Haug.

That is the claim of the Swiss magazine Speed Week, specifically naming the former Ferrari and McLaren driver as potentially in the running for Haug's job.

Austrian Berger, 54, was BMW's joint motor sport director last decade, and until 2008 the co-owner of the second Red Bull team, Toro Rosso.

"We will inform you about everything in due course," a Mercedes spokesman is quoted by the German news agency DPA.

Ross Brawn and Norbert Haug, Mercedes AMG. (Photo: WRi2)

From Bentley press release

Team M-Sport will work on the development of the new Bentley Continental GT3, that will make its racing debuts by the end of 2013.

Following the announcement of Bentley's return to motorsport in the GT3 category, response to the Continental GT3 has been overwhelmingly positive with significant interest from numerous potential customers. With detail design now underway at Bentley's new motorsport department at the factory in Crewe, the Continental GT3 is on schedule to make its first on-track appearance by the end of 2013.

To assist with the design of specialist components and offer focussed technical expertise during the development of the programme, Bentley is delighted to announce a technical partnership with M-Sport Ltd, whose credentials include the successful running of World Rally Programmes since 1997, including winning two Manufacturer's World Rally Championships.

Photo: Bentley

M-Sport will design and develop specialist components, together with design work and project organisation being undertaken in-house at Crewe.  The company's Dovenby Hall base in Cumbria complements the Crewe-based team and factory facilities, together creating an array of expertise and equipment that will help to ensure the development of a competitive GT3 racecar worthy of Bentley's return to the racetrack.

Infiniti is renaming its entire product portfolio for the 2014 model year, returning to the letter 'Q' from the brand's early history for every car and 'QX' for every Infiniti crossover and SUV. Nissan Motor Co.'

Also in this episode: Toyota is on track to take back the title of largest automaker, and the Germans manage another excellent showing at the Race of Champions.

Conventional wisdom would say the more hours a salesperson works, the more money he or she earns. Not so, according to a new industry report on the automotive dealership work force.

General Motors has idled the primary assembly plant that makes the Chevrolet Malibu for nearly three weeks amid swollen inventories of the mid-sized sedan.

Johnson Controls, the lead bidder at the auction for assets of bankrupt A123 Systems, said it is appealing the court decision that gave China's Wanxiang Group approval to buy most of the assets.

A startup automaker financed by the federal government won a regulatory decision that Chrysler Group LLC said will give its competitor a monopoly on selling wheelchair-accessible minivans to transit agencies.

Chrysler Group wants to invest nearly $162 million in an Indiana plant finished in 2008 but never occupied because of a failed joint venture and Chrysler's bankruptcy.

Volkswagen today wiped out rumors of the Routan's demise, saying that production of the Chrysler-built minivan should resume by summer 2013.

BMW revealed a second helping of M Performance Parts for non-M BMWs on Friday. Owners can upgrade both the 3- and 5-series at any Authorized BMW Center.

News 17 Dec, 2012

The Car of the Year 2013 shortlist of eight has been announced

Driven: 2013 Maserati GranTurismo Sport

A sexy -- but surprisingly practical -- beast from Italy.

Maserati has always been the sultry vixen who stops traffic. But when long-term commitments are made, most buyers in the luxury-performance market opt for a gleaming German hausfrau (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche), a stylish British aristocrat (Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar), or an even hotter Italian trophy wife (Ferrari, Lamborghini).

Photo Gallery: Driven: 2013 Maserati GranTurismo Sport - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: Driven: 2013 Maserati GranTurismo Sport - Automobile Magazine

Driven: 2013 Maserati GranTurismo Sport | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

Ford can't collect $445 million in interest on overpayment of income taxes, an appeals court ruled, saying the Internal Revenue Service didn't improperly calculate what the company was owed.

Choosing between a '46 Hudson pickup and a '47 Mercury pickup for your eternal torment is tough, especially coming on the heels of