Are you serious? Just "small bit of Carbon fiber on the center console"?
Take for example the Ferrari Enzo. It's WHOLE body is a carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite, which is EXACTLY the same as Formula 1 cars for the past two decades. The only difference is that the F1 cars have a monocoque structure.
The Ferrari F40 had a FULL kevlar and carbon fibre body on it when in it was introduced in 1987, with kevlar only introduced into Formula 1 a few years before that.
Or how about Carbon fibre-reinforced Silicon Carbide (C/SiC) brakes? Which offers unparalleled stopping power compared with normal brakes.
And the F430 includes the E-Diff, a computer-controlled limited slip differential which can vary the distribution of torque based on inputs such as steering angle and lateral acceleration, a world's first on a road car, but Ferrari's F1 cars had been using that for years.
More evidence? Consider the Ferrari F50. It had a naturally-aspirated 60-valve V12 engine that was a larger capacity clone of the 3.5 L V12 used in the 1992 Ferrari F92A Formula One car.
That's just some off the top of my head.
And you don't consider this to be "F1-derived"? If you think that all this technology is just a "gimmick" and is straight from the marketing department, that you are an idiot. If such technologies are not F1 derived then what do you consider are?
And why shouldn't/wouldn't Ferrari market their cars as having such technologies? If the car has it and it makes the car perform better, then why shouldn't Ferrari, as company, market it as such?
Where the hell did I say just a small bit of carbon fiber on the center console? Or him for that matter?
As far as the use of carbon fiber body panels, it's not F1 technology, it's application of aerospace tech into the automotive field. Porsche's 959 was made with the same style of body construction as you saw in the F40, and was on the market first. It was also being designed for Group B racing BEFORE the F1 cars with kevlar body panels were, so F1 wasn't the start of it. Hell Pagani, for example, had a full carbon fiber body before the Enzo was even a twinkle in Ferrari's eyes.
Carbon ceramic brakes were in development across all racing bodies in the early-mid 70's and several teams brought them out in multiple series within a couple years of each other. It is racing derived tech but not Formula 1 tech.
THe E-diff is NOT new and NOT a tech derived from Formula 1. In fact F1 was a bit of a late adopter. In fact it's an adaptation of technology seen in tanks, and has been used by Nissan/Mitsubishi/Subaru/BMW for years now.
The F50's engine was one of the very few examples of F1 technology directly translating into road cars, and while the tech used int it wasn't proprietary it was based on the racing V12.
Most technological advancements that you see on road cars actually came from rally cars, especially during the Group B period. I'm not saying there haven't been incidents of Formula 1 contributing to road cars but let's be honest, a lot of it is purely marketing.
I have NO problem with Ferrari marketing their road car tech but to say it's straight out of F1 is intellectually dishonest.
This article was written by an idiot, and it has resulted the whole internet to blindly jump on the Ferrari hate band wagon. All I see is an epic fail in the advertising campaign (or in this case, the author of the article), but not a single bit from Ferrari's side.
Ferrari have produced loads of supercars filled with F1 technology, stop arguing over a silly article. We all know that double clutch gearbox and radiators ahead of the front wheels has nothing to do with F1, now move on.
The same can be applied with the Merc SLR and Mclaren F1. So stop this drivel now.
Sorry but I hate what Ferrari has become. I used to love them to bits but now their cars are ugly, dull and far too focused on technology instead of the driver. I've driven the full current range and I'd rather have a 355/550/456 than any of the lot. If these cars were made by someone other than Ferrari the amount of praise would be greatly reduced. However objectivity is a bit of a rarity these days.
And the SLR is a joke of a hyper car, and has been for quite some time. I really don't see how that's a valid defense of the marketing drivel that Ferrari has been throwing out as of late.