Lap times? These weren't meant to be screamers (the car had other appointments to keep), but subjectively, Raffaele's F1-Trac race-mode laps had a laser-beam speed intensity to them that his slightly faster, stability-off ones lacked. In flat-out lapping, the 599 has recorded times 3.5 seconds faster than the Maranello-1.5 seconds behind the mighty Enzo.
Our data-collecting duties done, Mark and I walked around Fiorano as the day ebbed, past locker doors with "Schumacher" and "Massa" on them, past Enzo's office as a housekeeper switched off the lights and shuttered the windows. Yellow Ferrari flags relaxed overhead.
The primordial pulse of motor racing can be felt here and maybe puts perspective on that remarkable Brazilian Grand Prix that snapped closed the book on Michael Schumacher's monumental career. Watching a guy with more money than he could bonfire every day for the rest of his life, and another championship completely out the window, repeatedly nail lap records in his final Formula 1 moments was stirring. You might have to reach as far back as Niki Lauda's Ferrari return six weeks after his flaming Nrburgring crash (and hearing the Last Rites) for an inspirational comparison. Perhaps that both of the German's and the Austrian's cars wore a prancing horse is just a coincidence. Maybe they would've done the same things driving for Minardi or McLaren.
But in this place, you comprehend the urge that might make drivers do remarkable things. And make engineers rise above their normal excellence to build a car they call Fiorano.
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