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Race Recap: 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix is a fool in the rain

Humidity, hunger and heartbreak were the takeaways from the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix. A proper track with a wider variety of straights and corners than the street circuit in Australia, the second race of the season was expected to be a better test of the performance of the 11 teams on the grid. It was also supposed to be a more accurate test of the Pirelli tires, the bits of rubber at the four corners of the car still at the top of the performance agenda for all the top teams except for McLaren, which even larger issues with its new car to deal with.
Then it rained. Then it rained some more. Then it rained so hard just before the race that numerous drivers slid off the track on the parade lap. Then came the race, and then came the figurative tears and ones of the crocodile variety as well.

Is the $1.4M LaFerrari sold out?

If you look at the stratospheric sticker prices on the latest generation of hypercars and wonder how an automaker could possibly justify it, bear in mind a few factoids. For one thing, even when the sticker prices start lower, they quickly balloon past the million-dollar mark. For another, automakers charge that much because they can, and don't seem to have much trouble selling them all.
Case in point: the new LaFerrari. While presenting the state-of-the-art supercar on CNBC, Ferrari North America CEO Marco Mattiacci revealed that all 499 examples that will be made of the hybrid hypercar - including those 120 earmarked for North America - have already been spoken for. This despite the $1.4 million asking price that makes it the most expensive Ferrari ever made.
Or the most expensive new Ferrari, we should say, because prices for the most collectable machines ever to roll out the gates at Maranello continue to rise. Figure you'll save a little and get LaFerrari's predecessor? Trading hands these days at prices approaching $2 million (around three times its original $660k MSRP), the Enzo is even more expensive. And that's just the scarlet tip of the iceberg.

Race Recap: 2014 Australian Grand Prix quietly opens the new F1 era [spoilers]

The first chapter of the new Formula One era has been written with the conclusion of the Australian Grand Prix, and it included a rookie rush, some resurgent and some unsurprising performances, the sound of screeching tires and a couple of firsts.
Outside predictions as to the pace of the Mercedes AMG Petronas team were proved as soon as the Friday practice sessions, with Lewis Hamilton recovering from an engine sensor fault in the first session to top the second, followed by teammate Nico Rosberg. That didn't change come the start of qualifying, not even the rain slowing down the Silver Arrows, Hamilton taking pole as the last man across the line in Q3.
The surprises were in the order behind him, with new Infiniti Red Bull Racing man Daniel Ricciardo grabbing second spot just three-tenths of a second down on Hamilton. Ricciardo not only looked like he belonged at the front of the grid the entire weekend, but he seems to have reversed the Mark Webber jinx: four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel had car issues and didn't get into Q3, having to settle for 13th on the grid.