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VW CEO Winterkorn happy with rebounding Seat, Skoda

Martin Winterkorn is a happy man: Volkswagen is putting up big numbers in North America, its latest field of dreams, Audi, is breaking records every month, there are exciting cars in the pipeline - from Bugatti down to the XL1, Porsche's digestion continues, and now Skoda and especially Seat are turning in no-questions performance.
It seems Skoda has been on the ups for years, making the most of keen pricing and modern redesigns of the chassis and tech it gets handed down from big brothers VW and Audi. Winterkorn predicts the Czech brand will just about double its 2010 sales by 2018, going from 762,000 to 1.5 million.
Seat, on the other hand, wasn't just on the hotseat a year-and-a-half ago, phrases like "uncertain future" - code for "possible demise" - were rumbling in the background. A new CEO was brought in, new money and new models were thrown against the wall, and the efforts have stuck. The Spanish brand has hit three strong chords with Winterkorn, with increased sales, strong performance in China and anticipated models due. If this keeps up there won't be much left for him to do but, a la Alexander the Great, break down and cry with no worlds left to conquer.

McLaren Automotive posts first yearly profit

The automotive division of McLaren has just returned its first yearly profit, netting 4.5 million pounds ($7.5 million at today's rates) in pre-tax profit and 12.4 million pounds ($20.7 million) in operating profits on revenue of 285.4 million pounds ($478.1 million). McLaren is only expecting things to get better, too, with the announcement of the sub-650S P13 set to increase sales to 4,000 units per year. As for the brand's latest model, the 650S, there are already over 1,000 orders for the new coupe and convertible. The British brand will also offer a limited run of track-based P1 hypercars, although they'll only be available to the 375 fabulously wealthy customers who ordered the road-going version of the high-performance hybrid. Part of making money is reinvesting, which is why McLaren saw its research spending jump by 2.5 million pounds ($4.1 million) in 2013, to 70.6 million pounds ($118.2 million). Take a look below for the official press release from McLaren. McLAREN AUTOMOTIVE ON TARGET FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS Jun 4, 2014 Key information: Profit before tax - GBP4.5m Operating profit - GBP12.4m Turnover - GBP285.4m (up from GBP266.6m) Investment in future models - GBP70.6m (up from GBP68.1m) Turnover and profit both expected to grow in 2014 McLaren Automotive's next model, codenamed P13, to go on sale during 2015 Limited run of track only McLaren P1™ hypercar confirmed for introduction in 2015 McLaren 650S international sales already strong – more than 1000 orders received McLaren Automotive made both an operating and pre-tax profit for the first time in 2013, during only its third year of car production. This is a significant achievement for an independent British car company operating in such a highly competitive global market. McLaren Automotive's improved profitability proves the company's longer term business model, which is able to invest continuously in R&D in order to develop and sell the world's most exciting and technologically advanced high performance cars. McLaren Automotive has also confirmed that its next all-new sportscar, codenamed P13, will be available before the end of 2015 and will take its range into a lower price-point - making McLaren more accessible, while retaining its commitment to excellence, performance and innovation. P13 will be a comfortable, usable, and beautiful mid-engined two seater sportscar, built around a carbon fibre chassis.

Race recap: 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix was everything good and bad about F1

Nothing was as it seemed heading into Bahrain. We were told team bosses had nixed the qualifying experiment that flunked every test by every measure in Australia, but that didn't happen. The FIA didn't give the teams the option of a wholesale return to the old format, the governing body only held a vote on whether to revert back to the old format in Q3 but stick with elimination gimmicks in Q1 and Q2. McLaren and Red Bull dissented, denying the chance for hybrid rounds. We're surprised none of the smaller teams voted against since elimination qualifying is hardest on them. Given the chance to fix the system again in Bahrain, Formula 1 failed again. The FIA and Bernie Ecclestone don't want to go back to the old system – because the race promoters don't want to go back to the old system – so all we know for sure is that there will be more meetings. We also thought Fernando Alonso would race in Bahrain after being given medical clearance, but a follow-up scan by the FIA showed fractured ribs and a damaged lung, ruling him out. And we thought Ferrari might have the pace to conquer Mercedes-AMG Petronas this year – and they might yet, but not on Saturday. That's why the Bahrain race began with another Mercedes one-two, Lewis Hamilton ahead of Nico Rosberg, Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen behind. The Australian outback is plagued with rabbits, which must have something to do with how Daniel Ricciardo keeps pulling them out of his helmet; the Aussie got his Red Bull up to a surprising fifth on the grid. Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas in sixth and Felipe Massa in seventh would need to get him out of the way quickly to show what the car can do after an unsatisfying race in Australia. Nico Hulkenberg lined up in eighth for Sahara Force India. As proof the qualifying format failed again with its sophomore attempt, the last five minutes of Q2 were disappointing. Hulkenberg had the track completely to himself for his quali run, the only two cars on track after him were the Williams duo who weren't setting a time, but getting a set of soft tires ready to start the race on. As for Q1, the only reason for on-track action in the last three minutes was because Hamilton flubbed his first timed run. Romain Grosjean continued Haas F1's fruitful start to the season with ninth place, ahead of Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso closing out the top ten. At the end of a long red light to start the race, Rosberg claimed his right to victory before Turn 1.