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Hamilton wins Hungarian GP


Lewis Hamilton ended weeks of expectation and frustration when he finally won his first race for Mercedes by claiming a dominant text-book triumph in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The 28-year-old Briton led from pole position to the chequered flag, apart from three short spells for pit-stops, as he secured his fourth victory in sweltering conditions.

Hamilton came home 11 seconds clear of Finn Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus and third-placed defending triple world champion German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who was unable to force his way into second place in the closing laps.

Hamilton's pole was his third in successive races but the previous two had seen him unable to exploit the advantage - a spectacular tyre failure at Silverstone wrecking his hopes while leading the British Grand Prix.
But this time, in Mercedes' 350th race as engine suppliers in Formula One, he enjoyed some of the luck that had been missing elsewhere to mark his 120th Grand Prix with a well-taken win.


RESULTS - Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix (70 laps)
PosDriverTeamTime/Laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1h42m29.445s
2Kimi RaikkonenLotus10.938
3Sebastian VettelRed Bull12.459
4Mark WebberRed Bull18.044
5Fernando AlonsoFerrari31.411
6Romain GrosjeanLotus52.295s*
7Jenson ButtonMcLaren53.819
8Felipe MassaFerrari56.447
9Sergio PerezMcLaren69 laps
10Pastor MaldonadoWilliams69 laps

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Aston Martin sign major deal with Mercedes

 
Aston Martin is to team up with Mercedes to develop a new generation of engines and components.
 
As part of the deal, Mercedes owner Daimler will take a stake of up to 5% in the UK luxury auto maker.
It is hoped the partnership will allow Aston Martin to compete more effectively with Volkswagen's Bentley and Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover.

100-year old Aston Martin makes the V8 Vantage, DB9 and Vanquish sports cars.
The companies did not release any financial details of the deal, which they aim to complete by the end of the year.

Aston Martin has been struggling of late. In the nine months to the end of September last year it sold 2,340 cars, a 19% drop on the same period in 2011.

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Sebastian Vettel wins Bahrain GP



Three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday, easily beating Lotus drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean in a race that has been the target of rights groups and anti-government protesters in the divided nation.
After taking the lead for good on the 17th lap, the Red Bull driver was never challenged. Raikkonen closed the gap in the final five laps but ran out of time. Grosjean passed Force India's Paul di Resta for third for his best finish this season.
Vettel retains the championship lead after four of 19 races, with his advantage over Raikkonen now 10 points.

FINAL RESULTS

1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 1:36:00.498
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus - Renault +00:09.111
3. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - Renault 00:19.507
4. Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India - Mercedes 00:21.727
5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 00:35.230
6. Sergio Perez (Mexico) McLaren 00:35.998
7. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 00:37.244
8. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 00:37.574
9. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 00:41.126
10. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 00:46.631
11. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams - Renault 01:06.450
12. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Sauber - Ferrari 01:12.933
13. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India - Mercedes 01:16.719
14. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams - Renault 01:21.511
15. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 01:26.364
16. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1 lap
17. Charles Pic (France) Caterham - Renault 1 lap
18. Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber - Ferrari 1 lap
19. Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia - Cosworth 1 lap
20. Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia - Cosworth 1 lap
21. Giedo van der Garde (Netherlands) Caterham - Renault 2 laps
r. Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 41 laps

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Sébastien Loeb at Pikes Peak with a Peugeot 208


Sebastien Loeb will participate in the upcoming Pikes Peak, which takes place June 30, driving a Peugeot 208 prototype, which is currently being prepared in Peugeot Sport. The current record is held by the ramp of Rhys Millen, 9m46.164s, recorded last year, but if the project goes well, it is very likely that the French reach another record to his personal account, leaving how far down can the 9m46.164s.

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Audi RS6 sets new ice-speed record


Finnish tyre manufacturer Nokian Tyres equipped a previous generation Audi RS6 with a set of studded winter tyres - measuring a whopping 20in in size - and stormed a really big and really cold bit of lake in Finland's Gulf of Bothnia. It's really ruddy cold up there.

Nokian's Audi RS6 - itself packing 572bhp and four-wheel-drive and a little bit of sheer terror - made two passes of the 7.5-mile untreated ice surface within the hour at "extreme speeds"; when travelling in this spirited manner, the RS6 was doing over 93 metres per second, with the studs on the tyres ploughing the ice 43 times per second.

Driver Janne Laitinen managed to hit 208.602mph (335.7km/h), which smashes his previous top speed, by 2.6mph. At one point during the run, Nokian's very own ‘Iceman' hit 211mph. Probably best not to remind him to keep the tyres warm though, as we suspect he knows what he's doing.

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Mercedes G63 AMG 6x6


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Mercedes CLA 45 AMG


The new Mercedes CLA 45 AMG has made its virtual debut at the launch of the Playstation 4.

The Mercedes CLA 45 AMG has had its virtual unveiling as one of the stars in the new Driveclub game, set to be released on the Playstation 4.

The single rear shot reveals that it gets a similar look to standard CLA in the AMG Sport trim level, with large rear exhausts and intakes either side of the bumper.

The CLA is based on the same platform as the Mercedes A-Class hatch and will get the same 2.0-litre turbocharged engine as the A45 AMG. The 355bhp unit will work in conjunction with a four-wheel-drive system to launch the CLA 45 AMG from 0-62mph in just under five seconds. 
 
Both this car and the A 45 AMG will be presented to the world in March (A 45 at Geneva, CLA 45 at New York).

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European Car Sales Fall 8.7% in January



In January, sales of passenger cars in the European Union fell 8.7 percent from the same month last year. Total sales reached 885,167 vehicles, reaching a historic fall recorded for the month of January since 1990.

Looking at the major markets, only the UK registered a growth (+11.5%), while the fall market prevailed in Germany (-8.6%), Spain (-9.6%), France (-15.1%) and Italy (-17.6%).

In absolute figures, Germany remains the largest market with 192,090 passenger cars sold, followed by the UK (143,643 units), by France (124,798) and Italy (113,525). In Spain 49,671 cars were sold, which was a little less than Belgium (50,684 units). 

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Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG


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BMW series Gran Turismo


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Del Piero moves into Le Mans racing



Football legend Alessandro Del Piero is teaming up with actor Patrick Dempsey in a bid to shoot for glory at Le Mans. The World Cup winner, a motorsport fanatic, has formed Dempsey/Del Piero Racing with the Grey’s Anatomy hunk.

The team has applied for an entry to compete in the 24-hour classic in France in June. And they will field two cars in the US-based American Le Mans Series.

Dempsey, an accomplished amateur racer, will drive at Le Mans if the squad’s entry is accepted, along with veteran US racers Joe Foster and Michael Avenatti.

Del Piero, who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 and countless trophies in a 19-year spell with Juventus, is not expected to get behind the wheel. He said: “I have had a passion for motorsport since I was a young boy growing up in Italy.

Del Piero, 38, is now the star player of Sydney FC in Australia’s A-League.

The racing team expects to announce further details about its cars, livery and driver line-up in the coming weeks.

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Aston Martin reveals Rapide S


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Chevrolet Corvette Stingray revealed


Chevrolet has drawn on the past for its most futuristic car ever, with the all-new Corvette Stingray named after the iconic 1963 original.

The seventh version of the best-selling American sports car was formally unveiled at a glitzy event in Detroit prior to this year’s Detroit Motor Show.

In standard trim, the Stingray gets a 444bhp 6.2-litre V8 delivering 610 Nm of torque, and does 0-60mph in under four seconds.

For the more-is-better file, the C7 brings a novel entry: a 7-speed Tremec manual transmission. Yes, the shift pattern may resemble a Pac-Man maze, but when the driver finds a gear, it may induce delusions of grandeur, thanks to Active Rev Matching – an electronic flattery system that blips the throttle on downshifts to make a driver look, or at least sound, like Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel at the Singapore Grand Prix. Or you can choose a 6-speed automatic (sigh).
 
Underneath, an aluminium frame similar to the one seen on the outgoing Z06 and ZR1 high-performance models is 57% stiffer than the old car’s steel frame and weighs 99 pounds less.

Carbon fibre in the hood, roof and underbody panels, along with lighter-density sheet-molded compound – SMC is engineer-speak for “plastic” – trims 37 pounds in body weight.

Chevy also adds that the 2014 Corvette will be in showrooms “in the third quarter”, at a price to be announced closer to its sale date. Surely the convertible and high-performance editions will follow shortly thereafter.

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