2018 Mclaren 570s Spider on 2040-cars

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2015 Russian Grand Prix was full of crashes and DNFs

Mercedes-AMG Petronas non-executive chairman Niki Lauda said of Lewis Hamilton's race-day domination this year, "The guy is driving like a god." Qualifying is another story, though – teammate Nico Rosberg taking pole proved that sometimes deities have to settle for second on the grid. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas surprised himself and his team with third place, half a second behind Hamilton but 0.05 sec ahead of the first Ferrari driven by Sebastian Vettel, while a mistake on Kimi Raikkonen's final flying lap left him in fifth, 0.4 sec behind Vettel. The Sahara Force India team had a good showing, with Nico Hulkenberg qualifying sixth just ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in seventh. It's the first time they've had both drivers in the top ten on the grid since the 2014 British Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean is leaving the stormy waters of Lotus at the end of the year for the unknown waters of Haas F1, but he made the shoestring operation look really good before Renault takes over by taking eighth place on the grid. Max Verstappen qualified well again with ninth in the Toro Rosso, ahead of the first Infiniti Red Bull Racing of Daniel Ricciardo in tenth. Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat lined up eleventh for his home grand prix, certainly a disappointment after locking up fifth place on the grid last year in a Toro Rosso. When Pirelli brought soft and supersoft compounds to Sochi, the company said it hoped this year's race would be better than last year's. We're sure this first-lap mishap isn't what they meant. Rosberg and Hamilton dragged it down to Turn 1, with Rosberg getting the inside line. Hamilton had to go wide at Turn 2 as Rosberg fought to hold position, but they left a mess in their wake: Hulkenberg spun going into Turn 2 and stopped in the middle of the track, and Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber – who'd started 16th – collided with him. Both cars were out of the race immediately, and the Safety Car came in. The Safety Car returned to the pits on Lap 3 Rosberg led the field, but just two laps later the German complained of a sticking throttle pedal. Two laps later he had to retire, unable to drive the car properly. That put Hamilton at the front, and we've seen that race a bunch of times before. He built a double-digit lead and never lost it.

McLaren's official winter tire package makes your 570S a weather beater

We're just about to December, the temperature is dropping all around the country, and at least here in Michigan, we've even seen some snow flurries in the past month. That means it's time to squirrel away the fancy expensive sports cars in favor of some safe, boring box until warm weather returns and salt departs, right? Wrong! If you have a McLaren 570S, 570GT or 570 Spider, you already have your winter car, because McLaren has a winter tire package for it. The company partnered with Pirelli to offer a set of MC Sottozero 3 winter tires designed specifically for the Sports Series McLarens, which includes the whole 570 line in the U.S., as well as the 540C overseas. The tires come pre-mounted to a set of forged, gun-metal finish wheels for quick installation. The company says they provide substantially better performance than normal tires at temperatures under 44 degrees Fahrenheit, and the chunkier tread is better for displacing water and snow. We're not sure how many McLaren owners will take the company up on this new option, considering how protective people are over their supercars, but we sure hope some will. We certainly would enjoy being able to drive a McLaren all year long. It would even be a fairly smart choice for winter duty, particularly in salt-happy regions, since the carbon fiber body and chassis are naturally rust-proof. Related Video: Featured Gallery McLaren Sports Series Winter Tires Image Credit: McLaren McLaren Driving Convertible Coupe Supercars mclaren 570s mclaren 570gt mclaren 570s spider

McLaren planning P13 GT with unconventional trunk

It was just a couple of months ago that we last brought you word on P13, the project being undertaken by McLaren to slot in a new entry-level model below the above-pictured 650S. Speaking with McLaren personnel at the launch of the latter, we said that the P13 would come in multiple bodystyles – which is to say, more than just a coupe and convertible. Now Car and Driver says it knows what that third bodystyle will be. According to an unnamed inside source in Woking, C/D reports that, in addition to a two-seat coupe and Spider, the P13 (or whatever it's ultimately called for public consumption) will be offered as a GT model. And just what will the difference be between the coupe and GT, you ask? Not necessarily the addition of extra seats in the back: according to Car and Driver, that will be a luggage compartment aft of the engine and passenger compartment. The resulting form, we understand, will resemble a Jaguar E-Type coupe, which could be what we were actually hearing about a couple of years ago when rumors surfaced of a 12C shooting brake in the works. One way or another, it would be an interesting development, potentially as novel as the Ferrari FF but at the opposite end of the spectrum and with its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 – albeit slightly detuned – still located amidships and still driving the rear wheels through a seven-speed DCT. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out, but with Frank Stephenson working on the design, we bet it'll be a stunner, if a slightly unconventional one.