2016 Ferrari California T on 2040-cars

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2016 Japanese Grand Prix | Hamilton faces the beginning of the end

We're told the Japanese mamushi viper haunts the undergrowth around Suzuka. If the pit viper attended the weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, it avoided human visitors but it put a nasty bite on Lewis Hamilton's championship hopes. The Briton, lined up second on the grid next to Mercedes-AMG Petronas teammate Nico Rosberg, flubbed his start. By the end of Turn 1 Hamilton was in eighth. Hamilton didn't suffer alone. The beginning of the race was a melee; many of the leaders got caught out either by the damp track or by having to swerve around slow starters. Only Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Max Verstappen took off clean. The German rolled up another lights-to-flag victory despite the pass-happy race happening behind him. Rosberg was as unbothered by the Dutchman in second place as he was by the official Formula 1 camera feed. Verstappen didn't have much work to do until the final ten laps of the race. Thanks to the Mercedes team's strategy – or Ferrari waiting too long to pit – Hamilton got up to third on Lap 36 of 53. Unable to make a DRS-enabled pass on Verstappen down the front straight toward the end of the race, the Mercedes driver took a creative line through Spoon corner. Closing in down the back straight, Hamilton jinked inside to try a pass through the final chicane. Verstappen moved over in the braking zone while Hamilton was still behind him, closing the door on the move. Hamilton protested over his team radio, but seemed resigned to a third place finish after the incident – he didn't try any more passes in the final laps. The Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line fourth and fifth, respectively, in recovery drives after penalties. The scuderia tried an aggressive final stint after Hamilton successfully undercut Vettel in the pits. Ferrari put Vettel on the soft-compound Pirellis so he could hunt the Mercedes, but after a few laps of close pursuit the tires gave up and Vettel fell back. Daniel Ricciardo couldn't get comfortable in his Red Bull the entire weekend. The Aussie finished where he started, in sixth place. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg followed the Red Bull home in two-up formation for Force India, Williams doing the same in the final two points-paying positions with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Rosberg's 23rd career victory – his ninth of the season and first ever in Japan – puts him 33 points ahead of Hamilton in the Driver's Championship with four races left.

Fernando Alonso gives German TV interview driving Ferrari F12 at the Nordschleife

Fernando Alonso gave a wide-ranging interview to German television station RTL, the Spanish driver and German interviewer conducting the session in Italian, driving a special Italian car on very special German track. Among many answers - from the industriousness of his native Ovideo, Spain to where he relaxes - Alonso gives Ferrari an eight out of ten for the season, admitting they don't have the fastest car but they have a complete car, and refuses to give himself a number, only saying that he is more complete as well than when he first entered.
Beyond the normal-guy persona and wealth of topics, the 10-minute interview is neat for being able to watch Alonso hurl the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta over and around kerbs while he's answering questions. You can check it all out in the video below.

Classic Ferraris fight currency rates for bragging rights

Which is the most expensive car ever sold at auction? That should be a fairly straightforward question to answer, only it isn't. Due to currency fluctuations, we're actually dealing with two contenders, both of which have legitimate claims to the crown. The contenders are both classic Ferraris, each of them worth in excess of $30 million. In one corner is the 250 GTO sold at Pebble Beach in 2014 for $38 million. In the other is the 335 S sold in Paris just the other day for ˆ32 million. Resolving the bragging rights should come down to a simple matter of currency conversion, but the problem is that the rates don't stay constant. So the $38 million for which Bonhams sold the 250 GTO worked out to ˆ28 million at the exchange rates of the day. At that rate, the GTO was worth a good four million euros less than what the 335 S sold for, even though today's rates value the 335 S at "only" $35 million, or a good few million dollars short of the GTO. The answer, then, may be subject to which market you're in. But if you're looking for the tie-breaker, consider the British Pound: in Sterling, the 335 S sold for the equivalent of GBP24.7 million, which is more than the GBP22.8 million that the GTO's $38 million worked out to at the time – but less than the GBP26.5 million it would be worth today. And so we're back to where we started. But we're sure the confusion won't last (or be relevant) for too long, as there's bound to be another highly sought-after classic automobile on the auction block before too long. And it'll probably be another Ferrari. WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A MOTOR CAR SOLD AT AUCTION* 32.1 Mˆ / 24.7 MGBP / 35.7 M$ INCLUDING PREMIUM LOT 170 • 1957 FERRARI 335 SPORT SCAGLIETTI DE 1957 • CHASSIS N°0674 FROM THE PIERRE BARDINON COLLECTION Lot 170. 1957 Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti • Chassis n°0674 • From the Pierre Bardinon Collection WORLD RECORD FOR A COLLECTORS' CAR AT AUCTION* Sold : 32,1 Mˆ / 24,7 MGBP / 35,7 M$ including premium (estimate : 28 – 32 Mˆ / 21,5 – 24,6 MGBP / 30 – 34 M$ ) *World record price for a car sold at auction, in euros and sterling. Previous record : 28,5 Mˆ / 38 M$, in 2014, in the US Paris – Friday 5 February 2016, shortly after 18h50, at the Retromobile Salon, Artcurial Motorcars, the collectors' car department at Artcurial achieved the world record for a car sold at auction, under the gavel of Maitre Herve Poulain.