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2016 Italian Grand Prix race recap

The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is called the Temple of Power. Furthermore, the winning driver in Italy started on pole in 13 of the last 16 years, and only one driver in that time has won the Italian GP from behind the front row of the grid: Rubens Barrichello in 2002 and 2009. By this point in the current Formula 1 season (era?) we know what it means when a track emphasizes both power and pole position: Mercedes-AMG Petronas. The Silver Arrows locked out the front row with Lewis Hamilton on pole. A poor start prevented the Briton from capitalizing on the advantage, so teammate Nico Rosberg and four other drivers swept by him before the end of the second turn. Mercedes would later say a clutch issue caused Hamilton's botched start, but that didn't help the man who'd just fallen to sixth place. Rosberg got about two laps of television coverage on his way to an unbothered victory ahead of Hamilton. Ferrari made Hamilton's second-place finish easier by sticking to a two-stop strategy; both Mercedes drivers pitted once. We aren't sure why Ferrari didn't at least attempt a one-stopper once Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had been gifted second and third on track. A pit stop took about 23 seconds from entry to exit and Vettel finished third, six seconds behind Hamilton. Raikkonen finished fourth, another seven seconds behind Vettel. Perhaps the Scuderia's tire usage wouldn't allow longer stints, but we'll never know. Daniel Ricciardo wielded his Red Bull like a scalpel to make an impeccable pass on Valtteri Bottas in the Williams and take fifth place. Ricciardo, trailing another Italian province behind, somehow closed the gap on Bottas in just the braking zone of Turn 1, pulling alongside near the apex without locking a wheel on entry nor running wide on exit. Bottas claimed sixth ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez in the Force India, Felipe Massa in the second Williams, and Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India sealing the top ten. Monza did spring a few on-track surprises. Esteban Gutierrez drove Haas F1 into Q3 for the first time this season, the Mexican setting the sixth-best time in Q2. Manor Racing planned for Monza all season, Pascal Wehrlein repaying the effort by qualifying 13th. Fernando Alonso pitted his McLaren on Lap 50 of the 53-lap race for a set of super soft Pirellis, then set the fastest lap. It's Honda's first fastest lap since 1992. The biggest moments happened off the track.

Jenson Button returns to F1 at Monaco while Fernando Alonso drives at Indy

MANAMA (Reuters) - Britain's Jenson Button will stand in for Fernando Alonso at next month's Monaco Formula One Grand Prix while the Spaniard competes in the Indianapolis 500 on the same day, McLaren announced on Friday. "I'm thrilled to be making a one-off return to Formula One racing, and I couldn't think of a better place to make that return than my adopted home Grand Prix: Monaco," the 37-year-old said in a statement at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Monaco resident Button handed over his McLaren seat to Belgian rookie Stoffel Vandoorne at the end of last season but remained under contract to the team with the possibility of returning in 2018. He won the showcase race in 2009 on his way to the title with Brawn GP. Honda-powered McLaren have endured a tough start to the season, with no points from two races, but Monaco's tricky street circuit could suit their car better and is also one where drivers can make the difference. Button will be the most experienced driver in the race as he makes his 306th start, with the Briton third in the all-time list behind the retired Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. He is also the last driver to win a race for McLaren, in Brazil in 2012, but cannot hope for such success this time. FAVORITE TRACK "It's one of my all-time favorite racetracks," said the winner of 15 grands prix who made his Formula One debut 17 years ago with Williams. "OK, I realize we won't have a realistic chance of repeating my 2009 victory, but I think we'll have an opportunity to score world championship points, which will be very valuable to the team in terms of constructors' rankings. "As for Fernando, I hope he not only fares well at Indy but enjoys it too." McLaren announced earlier in the week that double world champion Alonso would compete at Indianapolis with a car run by Andretti Autosport, last year's winners. McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said Button, who has kept his fitness up by competing in triathlons, would spend time in the team's simulator but there was no need for him to join an in-season test in Bahrain next week. "I rang him and his first reaction was, 'Great, I'm so excited," said the Frenchman of their short conversation after initial text exchanges. "You could feel the excitement on the phone was real. "Jenson was the choice from day one, the obvious choice by far," he told reporters.

The unbelievable everyday supercar | 2017 McLaren 720S First Drive

The McLaren 720S goes around a racetrack the way the Earth goes around the sun, inasmuch as the numbers involved are very difficult to comprehend. The Earth is very large, and the sun is even larger and very far away, such that a relative speed of 67,000 miles per hour seems crazy but is barely noticeable. The McLaren, however, puts you in a more immediate frame of reference, such that everything pertaining to its speed is not just noticeable, but alarming. The 720S is so fast that there's no warming up to it. Almost immediately you're driving at speeds that, in pretty much any other car would mean imminent calamity. Even the non-alarming voice the driving coach in the passenger seat uses to tell you to go faster seems alarming. Best of all, though, McLaren reminds you that rewards come with skill, not just speed, which is weird for a car this fast. You can't just point the steering wheel, mash the gas and let the electronics sort everything out. You have to, you know, actually drive, paying close attention to weight transfer and smooth inputs. That also sounds weird, but it's rare these days. In our world of point-and-shoot supercars, McLaren made the 720S a true driver's car. So, how did we get here? In brief, after dipping a toe in the carmaking pool with the McLaren F1 in 1992 and the Mercedes-McLaren SLR in 2003, racing juggernaut McLaren started McLaren Automotive in 2010 and got into the business full time. That lead to the MP4-12C (later just 12C), P1, and eventually the three-tier Sport, Super, and Ultimate series lineup present today. The 720S sits in the middle, replacing the 650S and 675LT. Since the start, McLaren has launched at least one new model or derivative every year. So expect a variant of the 720S in 2018. This is the first of McLaren's second-generation regular production cars. It uses a carbon-fiber underbody the company calls Monocage II, an evolution of the P1's monocoque that replaces the previous carbon fiber tub. It has all the things that come with structural evolution: light weight, lower side sills, higher rigidity. The new carbon monocoque also results in amazing rear visibility, thanks to a C-pillar located at the far edge of the car, bolstered by another thin strip of carbon fiber with glass covering the space in between. Visibility also benefits from the fighter-jet profile of the 720S. The wedge-shape of the previous McLarens gives way to a canopy-like roof that recalls cars like the Pagani Zonda or original Acura NSX.