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Rain prolongs the Championship battle | 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix recap

Rain and an old-school circuit are the antidotes to Formula 1's constricting technical regulations and Tilke tracks. At Brazil's Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace – otherwise known as Interlagos – rain Saturday night and on race day washed away everyone's careful plans, except for those of the man at the front of the pack. Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas ahead of the field throughout the weekend. On Sunday, a storm-delayed start behind the Safety Car assured Hamilton of a clean path to the lead and a clear track. The Briton didn't waste it, pulling out a gap on teammate Nico Rosberg behind, and Rosberg appeared to have no interest in going hard after Hamilton. Safety Cars and red flags kept resetting the gap to zero, though. After the Mercedes-AMG GT S led the first seven laps, it emerged again on Lap 13 for another six laps when Marcus Ericsson crashed his Sauber. Seconds after racing resumed, Kimi Raikkonen aquaplaned his Ferrari into the wall on the front straight. That caused the first red flag, leading to another eight-lap Safety Car interval, then a second red flag stoppage due to conditions on Lap 28, then three more Safety Car laps, and then, finally, racing again. Hamilton never surrendered his lead. The Briton changed tires once during a stoppage, and drove fast enough to cover the full race distance despite the intermissions. Afterward, he said "it was a very easy race." Rosberg had it harder, defending against the preternatural Max Verstappen in third. Barring misfortune it's already clear the Red Bull pilot has at least one Driver's Championship in his career future. In Brazil the young Dutchman drove like he's worthy of the hardware right now. After Verstappen passed Rosberg for second on Lap 34, the Red Bull driver pitted for intermediate tires on Lap 44 – a huge gamble in the conditions – coming back out in fifth. That tire wager failed, giving Rosberg a safe position in second when Verstappen had to pit for extreme wets on Lap 54 of 71. The teenager re-emerged in 16th. Over the race's final 17 laps Verstappen passed 13 drivers at six different places on track. He ran it close-but-clean a couple of times, especially when getting around Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez, but he was simply untouchable. Not only did the Dutchman score an amazing third place, he put in what could be the drive of the season.

McLaren rolls out new 650S en route to Geneva

There are a lot of good things to be said about the McLaren MP4-12C. It is, after all, one of the most thoroughly capable supercars on the market, and it's served as a fitting launch pad for the new McLaren Automotive operation. What the 12C has never had, however, is an engaging name or a distinctive design. But the latter appears to be something Woking is out to fix with the new 650S. Based on the 12C, the 650S incorporates a number of key improvements over its progenitor – some of which you can see and some of which you can't. The new front end takes its cues from the P1, with a better integrated splitter and LED headlamps, while the rear bumper takes its inspiration from the company's 12C GT3 racing model. The side intakes are new, and the rear wing has been optimized to help deliver 24-percent more downforce at speed. Five-spoke alloys (of curiously unspecified diameter) are wrapped in special Pirelli P Zero Corsa MC1 rubber. As expected, underneath the revised sheetmetal sits a retuned version of McLaren's ubiquitous 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 now producing (as the name suggests) 650 metric horsepower (641 hp by our standards). The ProActive Chassis Control system has also been recalibrated and allows the driver to adjust suspension settings independent of engine response. McLaren has not released performance figures for the 650S, but you can expect the increased power and improved aero to give shave a tenth or two off the 0-60 time – enough to drop it below the 3-second mark. The updated cabin is fitted with all the bells and whistles – from satellite radio and navigation to smartphone integration – and buyers will be able to opt for fixed carbon racing buckets, electric steering column adjustment, rear camera and more. Most crucially, the 650S will launch at next month's Geneva Motor Show in both coupe and hardtop convertible versions right from the get-go, ostensibly making this an apt replacement for the entire MP4-12C line. However, as you can see from the press release below, McLaren insists that it will continue offering the 12C alongside the 650S, at least for the time being. Assuming the premium for the upgraded model isn't too ludicrous, we can't imagine many buyers going for the older model though.

2016 Singapore Grand Prix Race Recap | Setting the stage for the final rounds

The Singapore Grand Prix always features a safety car. This year the nation-state got caution out of the way early: seconds after the lights went out, Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz collided with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, sending Hulk into the wall minus a wheel and some bodywork. The safety car led the field for three laps, then ducked into the pits so abruptly that a track marshal was still retrieving debris as race leader Nico Rosberg hit the throttle down the front straight. Rosberg avoided the pedestrian on his way to a two-second lead over Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes-AMG Petronas, and Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen. On Lap 8 of the 61-lap race Mercedes engineers warned Rosberg and Hamilton about brake management. Rosberg had no trouble until the waning laps of the race, his teammate inadvertently the cause. Raikkonen got ahead of Hamilton on Lap 33 while Hamilton nursed his car. Trying to get Hamilton back in front of the Ferrari, Mercedes pitted Hamilton on Lap 46 and also ordered him to turn his engine up. Ferrari debated for a lap about whether to bring Raikkonen in, finally issuing a last-second order to pit. The Finn emerged behind Hamilton, but executing the trick to get Hamilton back into third gave Ricciardo breathing room in second place. Red Bull brought Ricciardo in on Lap 48 for a set of super soft Pirellis. Returning to the track 25 seconds behind Rosberg, Ricciardo cut from one to four seconds out of that gap on every lap. By Lap 59 the Aussie was little more than a second behind the German. Had the race gone three more laps, Ricciardo might have pulled off the upset. This time Rosberg stayed in front to win his third race in a row and his first victory in Singapore, all in his 200th grand prix. Ricciardo and Hamilton completed the podium; Raikkonen claimed fourth. Sebastian Vettel wrangled an incredible fifth place after starting last; the German set the worst time on the grid when his suspension broke in Q1. Max Verstappen, having lost places at the start due to wheelspin again, recovered for sixth. Fernando Alonso made the most of his McLaren with seventh, ahead of Sergio Perez in the lone remaining Force India, a resurgent Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso, and Kevin Magnussen scoring Renault's second points finish of the season. Hamilton has not had a good time of it since the end of the summer break – engine troubles in Belgium, a botched start in Italy, and zero rhythm in Singapore.