The Ferrari 599XX is the first ever production-derived sports car to break the 7-minute barrier on the classic 20.832 km Nordschleife circuit, lapping in 6 min 58.16 sec.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, it was announced in Beijing that the beastly 599xx has officially broken the 7 minute barrier!

The 599xx has seen the introduction of a few technological advancements, which will probably be ported over to the other Ferrari models in the future. Amongst them:

1. The wheel doughnuts of F1 derivation which serve two purposes – to reduce turbulence and thus drag, and improve brake cooling.
2. Ferrari’s High-Performance Dynamic Concept, a novel integrated design and chassis set-up that uses sophisticated electronics to govern the mechanical limits of the handling for maximum performance.
3. The Actiflow™ System that increases downforce and/or cuts drag depending on the car’s trim during cornering.

via Ferrari.com

Enjoy!

Spanish week-end turned into a real triumph for Scuderia Ferrari: the Red cars dominated the Friday’s free practice sessions, Kimi Raikkonen gained the pole position in the qualifying session on Saturday, and the second consecutive one-two for the team on Sunday.

The finnish world champion started perfectly the race, keeping the first place gained with a marvellous lap the previous day. Felipe Massa overcame Alonso at the start, making him understand he was going to have a bad day: infact Alonso dropped out halfway through the race, lefting disappointed a big number of spanish fans, who had to see Ferrari winning as last year, when Massa came first at Montmelò.

Anyway, barring the perfect Ferrari’s race, the day was characterized by the presence of the safety car, caused by the terrible accident involving McLaren pilot Kovalainen after 22 laps: the finnish young driver had a terrifying crash because of a breaking at the front left wheel, that fortunately doesn’t seem to have bad consequences.

Going back to the Scuderia Ferrari’s success, it was to be expected that things would end up like this, but Alonso’s and Heidfeld’s problems helped the team to win back the classification leadership.

“We are very happy for this result” said Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari Director “it is the best we could gain here! We have very strong enemies this year, so we need to focus on the goal, and keep on working as we have done this weekend here. We are leading both rankings, so we have to continue in this way.”

Kimi Raikkonen said: “I had a good start, keeping the first position, and even if the safety car gave us some problems, the team made a perfect job, so everything was great, it was very difficult to do better than this. I’m also glad to know that Heikki (Kovalainen, edit) is feeling good, this is the most important thing!”

Bahrain’s GP ended in the best possible way for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Felipe Massa won the race, for the first time this year and for the 6th in his career, and Kimi Raikkonen was second, going back on the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

It was an important day for the italian team for many more reasons, as that it was the 100th victory with Luca di Montezemolo as President of Ferrari. Moreover, the 18 points gained by the two pilots let the team reach the second position in the Teams Standing, just one point behind the remarkable BMW.

Anyway, what should be underlined as basic for the future of the Scuderia Ferrari during this season, is the different approach showed by both the pilots and the team, that permitted them to rule the race since the first until the last lap, a change of mentality from the previous weeks that lets us wait for the next races more confidently, as done by the protagonists of the victory:

“We are very happy about this wonderful one-two finish,” said team boss Stefano Domenicali. “After a bad start to the season, we have proved we know how to react with our actions, as usual. We worked well all weekend and the results therefore followed. Now we have to continue down this road, without allowing our absolute concentration to slip for a moment, because in a championship that looks like being very close, it takes almost nothing to lose precious points.”

Felipe Massa commented, “Sensational! Finally, after a start to the championship under dark clouds, I can see the sunshine again. We kept our concentration all weekend long and this is the result. We knew we could count on a great car and that certainly proved to be the case, given that I never had to push to the maximum once I was in the lead…….I always had in mind what happened in Malaysia and so I tried to pay attention all the time, to ensure I brought the car home.”

Felipe Massa scored a great debut victory in winning the Turkish Grand Prix on the outskirts of Istanbul on Sunday. He led almost throughout the 58 lap race, held in 36 degree heat to establish himself in third place in the championship, and move Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro to within two points of the championship lead. But teammate Michael Schumacher was beaten into third place by championship rival Fernando Alonso, the pair finishing just 0.081s apart as Michael made a late lunge for the finishing line. The seven time World Championship had been overtaken by Alonso when the leading cars all pitted for fuel and tyres when the safety car came out after 14 laps. Massa came in first, requiring Michael to wait for service which allowed Alonso to overtake. His deficit to the Spaniard in the championship grew by two points to 12.

At the start, Michael’s fears of the dirtier inside line were realised in the charge down to the first corner, allowing Massa to lead although Michael just grabbed second from Alonso who was pincered by the Ferraris. He backed off which surprised teammate Giancarlo Fisichella who spun causing chaos. The Renault driver, Ralf Schumacher, Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen were among those who had to pit at the end of the lap for damage, which allowed Webber up to fourth from ninth on the grid, Jenson Button up one place to fifth, Nico Rosberg up from 14th to sixth, Tonio Liuzzi up from 18th to seventh and Robert Kubica who remained eighth.

During the opening stages, Massa opened up a 3.2s lead by lap three but there it stayed, until dropping to 1.9s on lap 13. Michael remained consistent in second place, but Fernando Alonso dropped away in fourth. Button had disposed of Webber to claim fifth place, the Honda driver briefly catching Alonso, while Webber was soon challenged by Kubica until his challenge faded, having overtaken Rosberg. On lap 14, the safety car came out after Liuzzi, who had also faded, spun at the first corner and his Scuderia Toro Rosso needed to be removed. All the leaders dived for the pits, the Ferraris arriving in race order: Massa ahead of Michael. While the German driver waited, Alonso swept passed into second place, and when the safety car went in a few laps later, Alonso was on Massa’s tail, if only briefly.

Michael was back in third place now ahead of Button, with Rosberg, who didn’t stop, in fifth place. Christian Klien was soon to be overtaken for sixth by Pedro de la Rosa, both non-stoppers. Then came Jarno Trulli having a massive battle with Rubens Barrichello. During the next 20 laps, Massa gradually eased away from Alonso, while Michael wasn’t far behind until he ran wide at turn eight and lost four seconds. Button was now close behind Michael, but not quicker. De la Rosa was next after Trulli, Klien and Barichello all pitted.

The first four were in a class of their own, with three of them making another pit stop on lap 39, leaving Michael ahead for three laps before he came in on lap 43. When he emerged, he was now just behind Alonso and the pair of them ran nose-to-tail for the remainder of the race, Michael hoping that Alonso might make a tiny mistake, but he was to be disappointed. Massa led the pair by 13s but he eased up in the closing stages to win by 5.5s. Alonso was just ahead of Michael, with Button in a safe fourth place.

Fifth place eventually went to de la Rosa, 33s further back, but he was pushed by Fisichella in the closing stages and then came Ralf Schumacher just winning his Japanese battle from Barrichello. Trulli was ninth, again pushed hard by Webber. Alonso now leads the Drivers’ championship by 108 points from Michael’s 96, while Renault are two points ahead of Ferrari, 160 to 158 pts.

It was the sixth win of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the first from Felipe Massa. This is win number 189 from 737 races. Felipe took his maiden career win at his sixty seventh participation in a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

A worthy achievement of course, but nothing really very unusual. However, it is a different story for Felipe Massa as the young Brazilian recorded his first ever pole at his 67th attempt. Afterwards, an emotional Felipe thanked the team, but also his father, who supported his career in its early days.

While there are still 309.356 kilometres of racing to go before tomorrow afternoon’s chequered flag, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has put itself in the best possible shape at this critical point in the season, as it is an all-red front row, with Michael Schumacher lining up alongside his team-mate. However, the battle in both championships could not be closer as the red at the front is matched by an all-blue second row for Renault with Fernando Alonso in third ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella. There are a total of three Germans in the top six on the grid, as apart from Michael, his brother Ralf is fifth for Toyota ahead of the BMW-Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.

Massa put in a faultless performance from start to finish, while Schumacher uncharacteristically made a couple of driving errors. However, with the final Q3 section of the session being run on a heavier fuel lad, it was Michael who had the honour of setting the actual quickest time of the afternoon during the Q2 part of proceedings.

It was the fifth pole position of the season for Scuderia Ferrari, after those in Sakhir, Imola, Indianapolis and Magny-Cours; the first for Felipe Massa who will thus start a grand prix from the very top of the grid for the first time in his career. For the fourth time this season two Ferraris will start from the front row. This is Ferrari’s 184th pole, the first at this track.

Here’s what Massa said:

“A fantastic day for me and to get my first F1 pole is an emotional moment. I can look back and think how much I have had to fight to achieve this. I am emotional and happy and hope to get many more poles in my career. I want to thank the team for having given me a fantastic car, but thank you also to my father: without him I would probably not be here in Formula 1. Tomorrow I will drive my race thinking about mine and the team’s objectives in both championships. We know we have a great package while the Bridgestone tyres are consistent and perform well over a long run.”

The summer break has ended but in fact, no one has told the people who control the weather in Istanbul, as the temperature was a very summery 30 degrees as Michael Schumacher reacquainted himself with the F1 media in the Istanbul Park paddock this afternoon. A quick recap of events in Budapest got things underway.

“Everything that can happen over the course of a season seemed to happen in just a single race weekend!” commented the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver. “Now we have to look ahead to the five remaining rounds. But Hungary did not end up being so bad for us, because if you look at the race while Fernando was still in it, you could think the championship was over for us. But then in the end we got lucky and I got a point. I can still win the championship and that point could be very vital at the end of the season.”

Michael remained positive even though the next question centred on the less than successful 2005 race here in Turkey.

“The main surprise last year was that we did not have a competitive package here, the track here is very challenging and we hope we are better prepared and competitive this year, so that we can put on a good show for all the Ferrari fans in Turkey, who were disappointed last year. I hope this weekend will be better and I believe it will be.”

Schumacher would not make any prediction about the outcome of the championships, basing his reluctance on how quickly the situation can spin around.

“The championship did not look too good for us up to Indianapolis and some people thought the battle was over, but within three races we turned the situation around and that shows how quickly things change in this sport. We are optimistic about the rest of the season and have faith in our strengths.”

Yesterday’s ruling from the FIA that mass dampers are now confirmed as illegal to use prompted an opinion in the paddock that this would favour the Scuderia as their direct rivals were perceived to have got the most benefit from the mass dampers. But Schumacher did not agree entirely with this view.

“Sometimes in F1 you have to accept unpopular decisions as we did earlier this year when we had to accept some changes on our cars. I think the system benefited Renault or they would not have used it, but developments move forward so quickly in F1 that they will have found a way around the problem of not being allowed to use it anymore.”

Tracks, tyres or team-mates? Which would have the biggest effect on the outcome of the title battle?

“I don’t think you can specify which tracks will suit us and which will suit our main rivals, but tyres will definitely be the key factor as, although it is quite predictable how much you can develop the car, it is less predictable as to how much you can develop the tyres. It is interesting that McLaren is also becoming more competitive now and we must wait and see if this will work for us or against us. As for team-mates, they could play a key role, but they will mainly be fighting for themselves and in our case, Felipe is keen to fight for third place in the Drivers’ championship.”

The dramatic Enzo-based sportscar which is designed exclusively for race track use and which numbers just 29 units, was presented last year. The FXX kicked off its 2006 European programme during the ‘Ferrari Racing Days’ event at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium earlier this month. Now it has arrived at Goodwood this weekend where FXX number 24 has been taking part in the Sunday Times Driving Supercar Run. Fearsomely quick, the ‘Hill’ has resonated to the glorious scream of its V12 engine. Add into the mix its aggressive racing car styling, a menacing dark-blue paint finish coupled to a full length white strip, and its puts its rivals, including the big-hitting Bugatti Veyron and new Porsche 997 Turbo firmly into the shade.

Ferrari has developed a truly innovative technical collaboration programme around the FXX prototype aimed at its most dedicated and passionate Clients. The FXX is the most advanced GT ever created at Maranello and its mission is to involve Ferrari’s most valued Clients as genuine Prancing Horse Test Drivers in their own right. The wealth of data and experience gathered in the course of this very special programme will be exceptionally important. In fact, the feedback from these highly skilled, non-professional Client Test Drivers will be compared and supplemented with suggestions from Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari’s professional in-house Test Drivers. Every Client who signs up for the FXX project will actually be joining Team Ferrari, and will have his driving experiences at the wheel of this new car monitored directly by the Prancing Horse’s technicians and specialists.

The FXX is the fruit of Ferrari’s know-how in building special limited-series sports cars combined with, of course, its racing experience. It will provide the basic framework on which the specifics of future extreme models will be worked out. The exceptionally powerful FXX delivers absolutely blistering performance on all fronts. The FXX has not been homologated for road use and thus will not be a competition model. It will be used exclusively on the track as part of a specific ongoing research and development programme featuring this first ever group of Client Test Drivers. The FXX is powered by an imposing 6,262 cc V12 engine that can punch out over 800 hp at 8,500 rpm.
Its gearbox is the result of the transfer of F1 strategies, delivering gear change times of under 100 ms. This is almost as fast as the F1 single-seaters, themselves the absolute pinnacle of current technological achievement. The FXX’s aerodynamic design is particularly innovative too as it has resulted in a shape that produces 40% higher downforce than ever achieved before. It is also possible to adjust the FXX’s mobile spoiler configuration to suit the specific circuit. Ferrari’s partnership with Bridgestone has resulted in the development of a specific 19” slick tyre for this particular model. Likewise Brembo has created a special brake cooling and pad system for the FXX’s extra large Composite Ceramic Material disc brakes.

The Client Test Drivers will also be able to share their unique track experience with a passenger – in fact a second seat is available. What really sets the FXX apart, however, is the sophisticated telemetry system which will monitor and give feedback on 39 different vehicle dynamics parameters in real time. The system is also able to record other data as demanded by specific circumstances. The information gathered will then be analysed by the Ferrari technicians working on the programme and discussed with the individual Client Drivers to ensure that the car is kept constantly updated.

The FXX package also includes participation in a series of track events to be organised by Ferrari on various international-level circuits over the coming two years. On these occasions, an official team of technicians will be on hand to provide any assistance and support required by the Client Test Driver. In addition to these truly unique official events, Clients will also be able to take their cars out on the track independently during private sessions. Clients wishing to leave their car at Maranello will be glad to know that the vehicles will be transported directly by Ferrari to the various European circuits for the scheduled events.

Given the car’s exceptional performance and the unique nature of the package, delivery of each FXX also includes an ad hoc driving course. The instructors are, of course, be professional drivers and the courses take place at the Fiorano circuit where Ferrari does its most important F1 single-seaters testing.