2016 Mclaren 675lt Spider on 2040-cars

Auto blog

McLaren 650S Sprint is ready to hit the track running in Monterey

McLaren isn't exactly the most plebeian brand to begin with, so it makes sense for the company to take advantage of the lavish parties and wealthy folks descending on California for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. In addition to the insane P1 GTR, McLaren is showing off the track-focused 650S Sprint here in Monterey. This new 650S it takes the place of the 12C Sprint in the brand's lineup, and should be the fastest 650S short of the GT3 racer. The thing is, the Sprint isn't technically a homologated racer, but it makes a great toy to show off at track days. For the Sprint, the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 stays put, but McLaren optimizes the 650S' body for more downforce and better engine cooling. It also packs all sorts of track goodies like a competition fuel tank, larger radiator, racing-tuned suspension and 19-inch center-lock wheels. It also has all of the safety necessities for a day of doing laps like a roll cage, fire suppression and racing buckets. Of course, you might have known about all of that already, since the British brand revealed the Sprint just a few days ago, but you can check it live our gallery from Monterey.

Rosberg survives the Mexican mess | 2016 Mexican Grand Prix recap

Roughly ten messy laps defined the Mexican Grand Prix – five laps at the start and five at the end. Those laps included a couple of actual wrecks and a few more near wrecks that turned the entire day into chaos. To have any chance of winning the 2016 Driver's Championship, Lewis Hamilton needed to get his Mercedes-AMG Petronas across the finish line ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. Once again we got a weekend full of vintage Hamilton, the Brit dominating the from Friday to Sunday, except for the first corner of the first lap. Pole-sitter Hamilton reached Turn 1 clearly in front of the field. But he couldn't make the corner and stay on track, so he zipped into the runoff area and over the grass, rejoining at Turn 3 still ahead of the field. The stewards didn't penalize Hamilton, one commentator's explanation being that Hamilton "was not battling another car." The non-action left car #44 to enjoy a lights-to-flag win. At that very same corner, Rosberg also availed himself of the runoff area. His infraction seemed destined to incur a penalty until replays showed that Max Verstappen in the Red Bull slid wide and bumped Rosberg, causing the German to go off track. No penalties were handed out there, either. Verstappen would return to hound Rosberg later in the race when angling for second place. Verstappen took a stab through Turn 4 on Lap 50 of the 71-lap race, but ran off the track and lost touch with the Mercedes by Lap 55. Ferrari got half of its strategy right in Mexico, putting Sebastian Vettel hard on the charge in the final stint. The German got within DRS range of Verstappen on Lap 67, with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo a little more than a second behind Vettel. On Lap 68, Verstappen pulled the same move as Hamilton at the beginning of the race: the Dutchman ran wide through Turn 1, zoomed over the grass and rejoined the track at Turn 3, staying ahead of Vettel the whole time. With three laps remaining, the stewards chose to investigate after the race. In spite of Verstappen's own team telling he probably needed to cede position to Vettel, Verstappen stayed in front and slowed just enough to put Vettel under threat from Ricciardo. On Lap 70 Ricciardo had closed up to Vettel's gearbox. Headed for Turn 4, Vettel swung outside to take the corner. When Ricciardo moved inside to pass, Vettel moved inside to block the Aussie while both cars were in the braking zone. The Ferrari made light contact with the Red Bull, but Vettel held his position through Turn 5.

Fernando Alonso home from hospital, will miss next test

Following his big crash at Catalunya on Sunday, we're glad to report that Fernando Alonso is apparently on the road to recovery. According to the latest update from McLaren, the Spanish driver is heading home "for further rest and recuperation." It won't be straight back to business for the two-time world champion, though. The team has also announced that its star driver won't be participating in the next test session, set to kick off tomorrow at the same track where Fernando crashed. Instead his wingman and fellow champ Jenson Button will proceed without him, joined instead by test/reserve driver Kevin Magnussen. The young Danish driver was promoted straight to the race seat for last season in similar style to Lewis Hamilton, who had similarly leapfrogged the usual order of things: instead of starting as a test driver or driving for a lower team, both Hamilton and Magnussen were put directly in the hot seat at McLaren. After winning the pivotal Formula Renault 3.5 series the previous season, Magnussen showed early promise when he scored a second-place finish on his race debut at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, but proved unable to repeat the success and was relegated to test driver at the end of the season to make room for Alonso. News Source: McLaren Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Motorsports McLaren F1 kevin magnussen