However, the people from Ferrari’s racing division seem to have been touched by the Christmas spirit, so they put their disappointment aside and had a little fun at work.
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"Italiafutura with its 40,000 members will be actively engaged in 2012 to try and change politics in Italy", said di Montezemolo in the letter, which was published on Gazzeta Dello Sport.
"The Second Republic has failed. When the Italian voters return to the polls, they must be offered a whole series of new ideas and new leaders in the elections, so that they can turn their backs on what has been a period of total failure in Italian politics," di Montezemolo added.
Di Montezemolo, who apart from being Ferrari’s Chairman has also been the President of the Italian industry association Confidustria, has been tipped to enter politics for a long time. He always refuted those reports as nothing more than rumors. Up until now, that is.
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You can watch the ad for yourself in the video after the break.
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Ferrari’s head of communication, Luca Colajanni, told Italian publication Autosprint that the 2012 car, upon which the Scuderia has focused its resources since August, will be revealed at the first official test of the new season on February 7 at Jerez racetrack in Spain.
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The move makes Sauber the third team after Red Bull and Ferrari to leave FOTA which, ironically, was formed on July 2008 in a meeting in Maranello in order for the F1 teams to present a unified stance in talks with FIA and the Bernie Ecclestone-owned Formula One Group that owns F1’s commercial rights.
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| Formula 1: U.S. Austin Race in Texas Makes the Cut, will be Included in 2012 Calendar |
Ecclestone wanted Formula 1 to return to the United States. His first attempt, a few years back, at the Indianapolis circuit was short-lived. The U.S. is very important to Ecclestone though, so he signed a deal with the Circuits of America for a race to be held in 2012 at a new track in Austin, Texas.
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Up until now, AMG has been the three-pointed star’s in-house performance division, developing the sportiest versions of its production models like the SLK and the C-Class and, of course, the SLS AMG supercar.
Yet the deadline has expired and nothing has changed. Ecclestone, however, decided to give Austin another week to secure a deal for hosting the 2012 Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix.
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This year’s event was held last weekend at the Esprit arena in Dusseldorf, with the VW Group providing many of the cars like the VW Scirocco R, the Audi R8 LMS and the Skoda Fabia S2000. It also displayed its brand-new 300HP Polo R WRC, with which it will enter the world rally championship in 2013 in front of the crowd for the first time.
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Well, leaving the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) is an action that is not really open to any sort of interpretations - especially when Ferrari itself issues a lengthy statement explaining why it is leaving the association that di Montezemolo himself was presiding over until 2009.
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Now, 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who made a switch from F1 to rallying, has returned to Formula 1, signing a two-year contract with the Lotus Renault GP team.
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| Caterham Group Officially Named at Brazil F1 Grand Prix |
"We have been talking for some time now about our plans for Caterham in all its guises, from the road car company to Formula 1 and GP2, and in the technology, design and innovation fields”, said Fernandes.
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Last weekend, German magazine Auto Motor und Sport reported that McLaren was in talks with Honda to rekindle their 1988-1992 collaboration, which yielded four constructor championships, from 2014 onwards, when the rules mandate the change to 1.6-liter turbocharged engines.
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NASCAR, on the other hand, despite being much more low-tech, is the series to watch in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Michelle Obama booing Brave. But it remains solely an American thing.
