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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 weighing dedicated P1 Track version

Start drawing parallels between Ferrari and McLaren and you're not likely to be left with much white space on the page when you're done. Both are Formula One racing teams first and foremost, and only started building cars for the road once they'd proven themselves on the racetrack. They both top the leaderboards for the most F1 championships, and have probably swapped more drivers (not to mention sponsors) than any other teams on the grid, but have both fallen behind in recent years and fired their team principals as a result. Their road-going supercars compete for largely the same customers, from the ~$250k, mid-engined V8s of the 458 and 650S all the way up to the latest million-dollar, 900-plus-horsepower hybrid hypercars. But Ferrari is a bigger company and has been in the game much longer, and as a result offers its customers two things that McLaren does not. One is front-engined GTs like the F12 Berlinetta, FF and California. The other is the exclusive XX track program. While McLaren may be showing no intention of taking on the former, the latter could be in the cards. In correspondence with Autoblog, McLaren spokesman Wayne Bruce confirmed a report from Autocar stating that, following requests from a number of P1 owners, the company has contacted all 375 buyers to gauge interest in a dedicated track-only version of the P1. Similar to the Ferrari FXX or the upcoming LaFerrari XX, the P1 Track would be set up specifically for the circuit. According to Bruce, "the P1 'Track' will have (even) more power and (even) torque than the road legal P1. It will also have (even) more extreme, aero tuned styling and an (even) more minimalist interior." All of which sounds pretty promising, considering the starting point is a hybrid hypercar with 903 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque on tap. But that's not all: "McLaren will organise a series of track events dedicated to the P1 'Track' and its owners. There will be one-to-one driver training for this very exclusive group, too." In other words, a similar approach to what Ferrari takes with its top clients, only likely without the pretense of paying to serve as a factory test driver. Production of the P1 Track would only start once all 375 road-going versions were completed, and though "the number to be produced has not been established yet... we envisage it being in the low double digits," with application open exclusively to existing P1 owners.

Race recap: 2016 Belgian Grand Prix is a dozen angry laps

The calm of the Formula One summer break ended with the tumult of the Belgian Grand Prix. The first two days included unusual tire pressures and grid penalties; Mercedes-AMG Petronas' Lewis Hamilton started 21st because of a 55-place grid penalty for engine and gearbox changes, McLaren's Fernando Alonso started 22nd due to a 60-place penalty for the same offenses. The bedlam rolled right into what was effectively an 11-or 12-lap race. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg took off from pole and the cameras barely bothered with him until he took the checkered flag 44 laps later. Red Bull's Max Verstappen bogged from second on the grid, got swallowed by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen on the way to Turn 1, then attempted to recover by sticking his Red Bull's nose between Raikkonen's sidepod and the apex at the first corner. Vettel, who didn't see Verstappen, turned into La Source leaving only enough room for Raikkonen. Three cars don't fit in a space for two cars. Vettel spun, Raikkonen and Verstappen clobbered one another and all three drivers had to pit for repairs. Force India's Nico Hulkenberg zig-zagged his way into second ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, Williams' Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez in the second Force India. On Lap 6 Kevin Magnussen lost his Renault at Raidillon at the top of Eau Rouge and flew backward into an enormous crash. Magnussen escaped with just a cut ankle. The Safety Car paraded the field for four laps before officials red flagged the race to repair the barriers. When racing resumed on Lap 10, Rosberg led Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Hamilton. Ricciardo stayed ahead of Hamilton to keep second place at the end of the race, Hamilton easily got around Alonso and Hulkenberg to lock up third. Hulkenberg – who'd given up second to Ricciardo by pitting during the Safety Car period – earned another career-best fourth position ahead of teammate Perez in fifth, followed by Vettel and Alonso on recovery drives, Bottas, Raikkonen, and Felipe Massa taking 10th in the second Williams. Rosberg reignited his Driver's Championship charge with the victory, closing to nine points of leader Hamilton. We could argue that Hamilton had an equally good day by driving from 21st to third, limiting his loss to only 10 points. About that Verstappen, though... We've seen far more experienced drivers attempt the same move Verstappen made into Turn 1 – Raikkonen on Bottas in Russia in 2015, for instance.