2016 Mclaren 570 on 2040-cars

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2015 Spanish F1 Grand Prix makes its Deutsche mark

The first race of the European Formula One season inaugurates the second phase of the Championship. Teams overhaul their cars with the big updates they've been working on since Australia, and at the end of The Battle of Spain we find out how the positions on the field have changed. Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg brought a big update to his psychology, straight-up beating teammate Lewis Hamilton to take his first pole position of the season. Mercedes owns the front row and Ferrari maintains its status as primary challenger, Sebastian Vettel lining up in third. Williams proved it's been hitting the books to do better in class, though, Valtteri Bottas slotting into fourth. And Toro Rosso's visit to a track that rewards strong aero rewarded them with the best team grid position since the Italian Grand Prix in 2008: Carlos Sainz secured fifth, ahead of Max Verstappen in sixth. Kimi Raikkonen's bout of Saturday woes – it seems the Finn is always handicapped by lots of tiny issues – continued in Barcelona with one of his sets of prime tires getting cooked by malfunctioning tire warmers. He recovered well enough to take seventh on the grid, but he's got some strong competition ahead of him. He led three other drivers in the Continuous Issues department, Daniil Kvyat unable to wrestle his Infiniti Red Bull Racing higher than eighth, Williams driver Felipe Massa getting it wrong in Turn 3 to fall five places behind his teammate Bottas, and Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull enduring another engine change and sloppy car behavior to get tenth. And while it turned out to be a steady race a little rough around the edges, the positions on the battlefield just might have changed. A little. Of the 66 laps in the race we might have seen Rosberg for three of them – maybe. The German got a smashing start, had a clear lead into Turn 1, and after that we checked in occasionally during his two pit stops and again at the checkered flag. He owned the entire weekend the way we're used to seeing his teammate do, and the cameras left him alone to run his race. No one got within seven seconds of him during the first third, and as the pit stop strategies played out that cushion grew. He finished seventeen seconds ahead of Hamilton, and 45 seconds ahead of third-placed Vettel. Hamilton, on the back foot all three days, stumbled out of the gate.

Race Recap: 2015 Canadian F1 Grand Prix is better behind the front

As of Saturday afternoon in Montreal, Canada, it was all about the number four. Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on pole position for the fourth time at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and now his tally of pole positions matches his race number: 44. Nico Rosberg lines up beside him, which is the fourth time that particular one-two combo has occurred this season. Ferrari spent three engine development tokens to try and close the gap to Mercedes, Kimi Raikkonen making the most of it with third position on the gird. His teammate Sebastian Vettel got the worst of it, however, when the MGU-K unit failed during Q1, leaving him 160 horsepower down and out at the first hurdle. Valtteri Bottas put a revitalized Williams on the grid at fourth, ahead of a Lotus lockout of the third row with Romain Grosjean leading the way in fifth, Pastor Maldonado just beside. Nico Hulkenberg got the first Sahara Force India into seventh – the team is still waiting on the upgraded B car that should be available for Austria – ahead of Daniil Kvyat in the first Infiniti Red Bull Racing and a "pissed off" Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull. Sergio Perez made it two Force Indias in the top ten, a welcome result from a team performing below expectations of late. When the lights went out, at the very front it was much ado about not that much at all. Hamilton got away clean and stabbed across the track to close the door for Rosberg, giving Raikkonen a chance to take the inside line into Turn 1 in an attempt to clear Rosberg for second place. That didn't happen, leaving the two Mercedes' to run in grid position for the entire race. It wasn't boring – Rosberg stayed close, rubber-banding the time gap to the leader from a little more than one second to just under four seconds, and Montreal is famous for race-rearranging safety cars and on-track incidents. But none of those occurred, so Hamilton crossed the line 2.285 seconds ahead of Rosberg after 70 laps to earn his fourth victory in Canada and the first-ever victory for the Brackley, UK-based Mercedes team. Valtteri Bottas drove his Williams to third position, the first podium place for the team this year and a welcome salve to heal the team's wounds from a poor showing in Monaco. That placing came courtesy of being in the right place at the right time, which was not far behind Raikkonen when the Ferrari driver spun at the hairpin on Lap 28 after his first pit stop.

Lease a McLaren for the low, low price of...

In the HBO series Ballers, former-NFLer-turned-financial-manager Spencer Strasmore, played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, warns younger players against the dangers of big purchases. "Never buy a depreciating asset," Strasmore admonishes, adding "If it drives, flies, [or] floats... lease it!" It's a prescient moment then, when one of The Rock's young charges ends up behind the wheel of a McLaren. Fast forward to today (and real life), when the British company inked a financing deal with Ally Financial, which will include lease deals on the new 570S "for as low as $2,200 per month." Alongside the $184,900 570S, potential owners will be given the chance to snag the $269,500 650S as part of the new closed-end lease program. It should be noted, international readers, that this new program is limited to US McLaren customers. "We are thrilled to announce the addition of leasing to our purchasing options, and fulfill what has been a regular request from our customers and dealers since we first set up US operations in 2011. Ally Financial has been a wonderful partner to develop this bespoke program with, and we are excited to launch it today," McLaren North America president Anthony Joseph said in the attached release. We're sure the NFL's players and their macho financial advisors are excited too, Mr. Joseph. McLAREN NORTH AMERICA AND ALLY FINANCIAL ANNOUNCE FINANCING RELATIONSHIP Program Offers Competitive Leases to Customers Purchasing New McLaren 570S and 650S Models NEW YORK, NY (January 4, 2016) – McLaren Automotive North America and Ally Financial announced today a new preferred financing relationship, which includes the availability of retail financing and competitive leasing options for McLaren's two best-selling models, the McLaren 570S and 650S. McLaren and Ally worked together over several months to develop this bespoke program for the unique McLaren client base. Retail financing and closed-end leases are available to qualified customers immediately throughout the entire U.S. McLaren dealer network. "We are thrilled to announce the addition of leasing to our purchasing options, and fulfill what has been a regular request from our customers and dealers since we first set up U.S. operations in 2011. Ally Financial has been a wonderful partner to develop this bespoke program with, and we are excited to launch it today," said Anthony Joseph, President of McLaren North America.