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Race Recap: 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix is Magyar for 'What a race!'

Every driver on the Formula 1 grid dreams of taking home the silverware, but only one driver each year can do it. Barring disaster in 2015 it looks like it's going to be Lewis Hamilton. The Brit has been so dominating at the front of the grid on Saturday, we can't see how he'll miss out on winning the second annual FIA Pole Position Trophy. That's the accolade introduced last season in another manufactured attempt to give drivers something to work for on Saturday, since the FIA felt leading into the first corner didn't have the pull it used to. Hamilton took his ninth pole of the season in Hungary for Mercedes-AMG Petronas with a crushing lap that put him almost six tenths ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg in second. All Hamilton needs is one more spot at the top of the grid this season, and he's the Pole Position trophy winner. Thrilling stuff. Behind Rosberg the gaps stayed smaller, Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari a little more than a tenth behind Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing less than four one-hundredths behind Vettel. We feel almost as vexed watching Kimi Raikkonen as he feels driving – he's finally got a good Ferrari, now he can't get a good weekend. The front wing broke on his car in Free Practice 1, then a water leak in Free Practice 3 robbed him of setup time on the soft tire. He lines up in fifth about two tenths behind Ricciardo. The slow, tight Hungaroring didn't agree with the Williams chassis, Valtteri Bottas the first of the Grove team drivers in sixth, his teammate Felipe Massa two places back. Between them is Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull in seventh. Teenager Max Verstappen put in a good showing in the Toro Rosso to grab ninth, while Romain Grosjean in a wriggling, squishy, sliding Lotus classified his appearance in Q3 at all as "a miracle." As for the race that followed, we don't expect to see another like it for a long time – it was the real thrilling stuff, one shock after another. The drama began after the first parade lap, when Felipe Massa lined up out of position and the start was aborted. The drivers did another parade lap, then lined up with everyone in place. Mercedes got swamped as soon as the lights went out. Vettel ran around both of them and led the race into the first turn, Raikkonen had come from fifth to third by Turn 1, then got the inside line on Rosberg through Turn 2 to take second place.

McLaren debuting lighter, more powerful 675LT in Geneva

McLaren has quite an event in store for the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. The British sports car maker already confirmed the debut of the production-intent version of the P1 GTR track-only supercar, and now the brand has added the 675LT to that list of unveilings with a brief teaser video. Two of the biggest details about the latest McLaren come right in its name. The 675 is a reference to its power in PS, which equals 666 horsepower in our system. That's a healthy 25-hp boost over the standard 650S. The LT suffix stands for longtail, and is an allusion to the famous F1 GTR Longtail with its much more aggressive bodywork later in the F1's racing career. McLaren already teased the more potent version's look (pictured below), but it's not easy to spot all the performance add-ons. Still, the brand is promising the 675LT to be the "the lightest, the quickest, and the purest version in the range." The coupe-only model benefits from tweaked aerodynamics for increased downforce, a lower weight and claims on enhanced driver engagement. Deliveries begin later this year. At the same time, McLaren is tweaking its naming scheme, yet again. The brand now refers to the 650S, 675LT, Asia-only 625C and their variants as the Super Sport Series. The moniker differentiates this family from the company's upcoming smaller models that are called simply the Sport Series. A SECOND GENEVA DEBUT AND A NEW NAME: THE McLAREN 675LT 28/01/15 LT model designation – standing for 'Longtail' – to join exisitng C and S range hierarchy LT to be the lightest, the quickest, and the purest version in the range Introduced by the 675LT which joins 650S and Asia-only 625C in the newly named McLaren Super Series Global premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2015 alongside the production-intent McLaren P1™ GTR Modern day interpretation of the McLaren F1 GTR 'Longtail'– the evolution of a true world-beater McLaren will look to its heritage when it revives the legendary 'Longtail' name given to one of the purest GT sportscars of all time, the McLaren F1 GTR 'Longtail', for the launch of the new McLaren 675LT at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. This road legal supercar will embody the 'Longtail' ethos with a focus on performance optimised aerodynamics, increased downforce, driver engagement, power and reduced weight.

Formula One speeds towards radical thousand-horsepower shakeup

The teams, the drivers, the fans, the circuits... few, if any, were satisfied with how Formula One has shaped up since the current regulations took hold last year. But that doesn't mean they aren't working on it. At a recent meeting of the F1 Strategy Group, the leading parties in the sport outlined a new framework that would radically shake up the cars themselves while keeping costs in check. And the biggest change could see the engines producing around 1,000 horsepower. Although a proposal put forth by Ferrari to ditch the current V6 hybrid engines in favor of new twin-turbocharged units was rejected by Honda and Mercedes, the members of the group approved in principal to increase the fuel flow in the existing engines to dramatically boost output. As it stands, the current 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 engines develop around 600 horsepower, with an additional 160 or so kicked in by the electric Energy Recovery System, for a combined output of about 760 hp. What's not clear at the moment is whether the increased fuel flow would necessitate either the return of mid-race refueling (currently banned) or the installation of larger fuel tanks. Red Bull and McLaren also submitted proposals to radically redesign the shape of the cars as well, however a more evolutionary approach was adopted instead. Though far from finalized, the new design would keep the same basic form of the current chassis, but with adjustments to make them more aesthetically pleasing while producing more downforce. Wider tires are also said to be part of the mix. With more power and more grip from the tires and aero, the resulting cars would most certainly end up going much faster than the current ones, which are already starting to nudge the lap records at some of the circuits, many of which were set during the V10 era. The F1 Strategy Group is made up of representatives of the FIA, Formula One Management and six leading teams. The next step will be for the teams' technical directors to iron out how to implement what their bosses have agreed to. If they settle the details fast enough, the revised regulations could be pushed through in time for next season. News Source: AutosportImage Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Motorsports Ferrari Honda Infiniti McLaren Mercedes-Benz F1