2022 Mclaren 720s Spider Performance on 2040-cars

Auto blog

F1's Fernando Alonso staying at McLaren in 2018

AUSTIN, Texas — Double world champion Fernando Alonso will stay with McLaren in 2018, the team said on Thursday in a long-expected announcement that finally ended one of the sagas of the Formula One season. McLaren did not say whether the new contract extended beyond next year. The Spaniard has endured a miserable three years with the British-based former world champions and had refused to commit to staying until he felt they could provide him with a competitive car. McLaren have gone some way towards answering those doubts by ending a troubled partnership with Honda and switching to Renault engines in 2018. "It's fantastic to be able to continue my relationship with everybody at McLaren. It was always where my heart was telling me to stay, and I really feel at home here," the Spaniard said in a team statement at the U.S. Grand Prix. "McLaren has the technical resource and financial strength to be able to very quickly win races and world championships in F1," added the 36-year-old, who won his two championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006. "Although the last few years have not been easy, we have never forgotten how to win, and I believe we can achieve that again soon." Alonso has not been on the podium since 2014, when he was with Ferrari. His last win was in Spain in 2013, again with the Italian team. McLaren is currently ninth overall, out of 10 teams, and the season ranks as the worst of Alonso's career with the exception of his debut year with now-defunct tail-enders Minardi. He has six retirements in 16 races so far in 2017, and failed to start in Russia while also missing Monaco to compete at the Indianapolis 500 in May. The Spaniard has scored points only twice. McLaren executive director Zak Brown said continuing with Alonso, as team mate to Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne, had always been the obvious thing to do. "His commitment will allow us to further improve the attractiveness and potential of the wider Group, and will ensure we head into 2018 feeling increasingly confident that we'll be able to take a meaningful step forward," he said. "Fernando fully understands and buys in to the direction we are taking. "Our shareholders have ambitious plans for the whole Group, and success within Formula One is a central pillar of that strategy. With Fernando, there is no doubt that we have a driver who can help us achieve our goal of winning again in F1." Reporting by Alan BaldwinRelated Video:

UK car output falls 14% in March, may get worse with no-deal Brexit

LONDON — British car output fell for the 10th month in a row in March, hit by a slowdown in key foreign markets, and the sector stands to suffer a lot more if the country leaves the European Union without a deal, an industry body said on Tuesday. Output tumbled by an annual 14.4 percent to 126,195 cars in March, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. Exports, which account for nearly four out of every five cars made in Britain, were down by 13.4 percent. The SMMT said analysis it had commissioned predicted output would fall this year to 1.36 million units from 1.52 million in 2018, assuming London can secure a transition deal with the EU. If Britain has to rely instead on World Trade Organization rules for its trade with the bloc, which include import tariffs, output is forecast to fall by around 30 percent to 1.07 million units in 2021, returning to mid-1980s levels, the SMMT said. The forecasts were produced for SMMT by AutoAnalysis, a consultancy. Prime Minister Theresa May has secured a delay to the Brexit deadline until Oct. 31, giving her more time to try to break an impasse in parliament over the terms of Britain's departure from the EU. Foreign minister Jeremy Hunt traveled to Japan earlier this month to try to persuade the Japanese government and Toyota, which has a big presence in Britain, that London was determined to avoid a no-deal Brexit. "Just a few years ago, industry was on track to produce 2 million cars by 2020 — a target now impossible with Britain's reputation as stable and attractive business environment undermined," SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. "All parties must find a compromise urgently so we can set about repairing the damage and diverting energy and investment to the technological challenges that will define the future of the global industry." (Reporting by William Schomberg, editing by David Milliken)

McLaren-Honda goes 8-bit in Turbo Heroes

Formula One is all about speeding forward, but it's not without its spats of nostalgia – from retro liveries to a return to turbo power. Take, for example, this latest animated short from the McLaren-Honda team. It's called Turbo Heroes, and it sends us back to the days of our childhood in the 1980s and 90s in glorious 8-bit form. Part Street Fighter and part Aryton Senna's Super Monaco Grand Prix, Turbo Heroes is a game-style video short – the start to a series from the looks of things. It portrays an epic battle in which basic animated versions of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso (coached by a grumpy Ron Dennis, no less) chase the evil Exhaustus in a race to recover the fabled (and equally fictitious) Jade Dragon of Suzuka to its rightful home in Japan. It's brought to you by the same team responsible for the Tooned series that was targeted at today's kids, only this one takes a decidedly different aesthetic approach. If you grew up around the same time as many of us here at Autoblog did, and got a kick out of films like Kung Fury and Scott Pilgrim vs The World, you'll probably enjoy this one. So put on your snapback, grab a can of Jolt Cola, and crank the ghetto blaster you've got hooked up to that Nintendo Entertainment System for a high-speed race down memory lane. You don't even have to blow in the cartridge.