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F1 Race recap: 2016 Russian Grand Prix same as it ever was

The three-year-old Sochi Autodrom that hosts the Russian Grand Prix combines beautiful scenery with a hallmark turn 3, a tricky turn 13, and two long DRS zones. So far, however, those haven't added up to exciting races after the first lap. Despite an in-race issue with his car's MGU-K, Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg aced the weekend with his first career grand slam: pole position, fastest lap of the race, leading every lap, and victory. Behind him, not much happened on the leaderboard after an incident-filled opening lap. The drama started at turns 2 and 3. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel lined up in seventh on the grid because of a five-place gearbox penalty, Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat sat next to him in eighth. Kvyat hit the back of Vettel's Ferrari in the braking zone for Turn 2, shoving Vettel into Daniel Ricciardo – Kvyat's teammate. Kyvat then clobbered the back of Vettel's car at the entry to Turn 3, spinning the German into the wall and out of the race. Kvyat probably regrets saying before the race that he would show Vettel "no mercy" on the first lap. At the back of the grid at Turn 2, Haas F1's Esteban Gutierrez hit Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Manor's Rio Haryanto. Gutierrez continued, both the Force India and the Manor retired. A brief Virtual Safety Car period ensued, then the actual Safety Car emerged for three laps while marshals cleaned up the track. Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg nailed the restart and took off for the rest of the race. Teammate Lewis Hamilton battled his own gremlins all weekend but still finished second, 25 seconds behind Rosberg. During the final qualifying session on Saturday Hamilton's car suffered the same MGU-H failure as in China two weeks ago. The problem relegated him to tenth on the grid. In the race, Hamilton fought his way to second place by Lap 19 out of 53 laps and began closing the 13-second gap to Rosberg. On Lap 37, the gap now under eight seconds, Mercedes told Hamilton his car had a water pressure issue. The malfunction forced the Briton to manage his race and settle for second. Afterward, Hamilton said he was certain he could have won if not for the malfunction. The rest of the top ten barely changed throughout the contest. The first five positions on Lap 21 crossed the finish line in that order 32 laps later. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took the final podium position ahead of the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R named Road & Track Performance Car of the Year

With a 526-horsepower, 5.2-liter V8 that roars to 8,250 rpm, it's really hard to consider the 2016 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350R an underdog in any fight. However, the Shelby held the lowest as-tested price and was only middle of the pack in terms of power in Road & Track's 2016 Performance Car of the Year challenge. The 'Stang's numbers clearly didn't tell the whole story about the potent coupe because Ford's muscle car grabbed the title in this year's test. A model needs to be new or significantly updated to be eligible for the honor, and R&T found an impressive slate of eight candidates this year. The challengers included the Bentley Continental GT3-R, Cadillac ATS-V Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper ACR, Mercedes-AMG GT S, and Porsche Cayman GT4. The Ferrari 488 GTB was the most expensive of the bunch with an as-tested price of $347,942, which is five times more than the Shelby. Once the group was together, R&T hustled them over curving roads and on the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park. There was a lot to love about the Shelby, even in this impressive crew. "With a flat-plane crank and Sport Cup 2 tires, the GT350R is a Mustang turned up to 11," editor-in-chief Larry Webster said in the announcement of the results. The GT350R joins some great company. Past winners include the Porsche 911 GT3 last year and the Corvette in 2013. For some fantastic photography and the complete appraisal of these performance machines check out R&T's website for the full story. Related Video: ROAD & TRACK NAMES THE FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT350R THE 2016 PERFORMANCE CAR OF THE YEAR New York, NY (November 9, 2015) – Road & Track today named the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R the 2016 Performance Car of the Year, beating out seven of the world's best new sports cars. The article appears in the December/January issue, on newsstands November 17, and on RoadandTrack.com. "With a flat-plane crank and Sport Cup 2 tires, the GT350R is a Mustang turned up to 11," said Larry Webster, editor-in-chief of Road & Track. "Not only does the car have soul and harness so much firepower with such ease, but the real achievement here is that it's so approachable. It's a car you can't help but love." The Mustang Shelby GT350R was the winner by a runaway vote.

Volvo S60 Polestar concept plays in the snow with Mercedes C63 AMG

Chris Harris took to a snowy stretch of tarmac to get a fingertips-on-the-wheel feel of the Volvo S60 Polestar concept. Harris says the turbocharged sedan with 508 horsepower and 424 pound-feet of torque - and a manual transmission - is "a study to see if Volvo can get back into the fast-car market." The Polestar S60 concept, one of which was already purchased for $300,000 by a private buyer, is still making the publicity rounds because even Volvo's Chinese owners realize that, as Harris says, "Volvo sold more cars because it made fast cars" like the old 850 T5 Wagon that stormed the British Touring Car Championship in the 1990s.
For reference, Harris compares the blue wonder to the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and its 487 hp and 442 lb-ft. The question is, were Volvo to get the price of a production version of the S60 Polestar to climb way down from its 200,000-pound sticker, could it be worthy competition to the established giants?
You can watch Harris divine the answer via a lot of drifting through the snow and a drag race in the video below.