The Prancing Horse scared by a squirrel - 28th December 11:55am GMT

The lossmaking Ferrari isn't looking so great a place to be, either, as the weak dollar ravages profits from the US, its biggest market. But the initial success of three investment banks in ousting Bernie Ecclestone, the mop-haired ringmaster of Formula One, from control of the racing series gives the Italian company some chance of increasing its income from the sport.

The company was distracted from its struggle to offset the effect of the rising euro this year when it discovered its shiny new worker-friendly factory, complete with banana trees, was also home to a squirrel.

The squirrel caused havoc when it took refuge in the flora dotted around the plant, running rings round the red-jacketed workers for a month before being caught. Perhaps it could teach the other F1 teams something.