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2015 Russian Grand Prix was full of crashes and DNFs

Mercedes-AMG Petronas non-executive chairman Niki Lauda said of Lewis Hamilton's race-day domination this year, "The guy is driving like a god." Qualifying is another story, though – teammate Nico Rosberg taking pole proved that sometimes deities have to settle for second on the grid. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas surprised himself and his team with third place, half a second behind Hamilton but 0.05 sec ahead of the first Ferrari driven by Sebastian Vettel, while a mistake on Kimi Raikkonen's final flying lap left him in fifth, 0.4 sec behind Vettel. The Sahara Force India team had a good showing, with Nico Hulkenberg qualifying sixth just ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in seventh. It's the first time they've had both drivers in the top ten on the grid since the 2014 British Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean is leaving the stormy waters of Lotus at the end of the year for the unknown waters of Haas F1, but he made the shoestring operation look really good before Renault takes over by taking eighth place on the grid. Max Verstappen qualified well again with ninth in the Toro Rosso, ahead of the first Infiniti Red Bull Racing of Daniel Ricciardo in tenth. Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat lined up eleventh for his home grand prix, certainly a disappointment after locking up fifth place on the grid last year in a Toro Rosso. When Pirelli brought soft and supersoft compounds to Sochi, the company said it hoped this year's race would be better than last year's. We're sure this first-lap mishap isn't what they meant. Rosberg and Hamilton dragged it down to Turn 1, with Rosberg getting the inside line. Hamilton had to go wide at Turn 2 as Rosberg fought to hold position, but they left a mess in their wake: Hulkenberg spun going into Turn 2 and stopped in the middle of the track, and Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber – who'd started 16th – collided with him. Both cars were out of the race immediately, and the Safety Car came in. The Safety Car returned to the pits on Lap 3 Rosberg led the field, but just two laps later the German complained of a sticking throttle pedal. Two laps later he had to retire, unable to drive the car properly. That put Hamilton at the front, and we've seen that race a bunch of times before. He built a double-digit lead and never lost it.

Our love of SUVs is killing people in the streets

Americans are fond of supersized fast-food meals and colossal convenience-store fountain drinks, even though they're clearly bad for our health and U.S. adults keep getting fatter. We also like large vehicles, and our love affair with SUVs is killing people in the streets. According to a recent investigation by the Detroit Free Press/USA Today, the increase in SUV sales over the past several years coincides with a sharp rise in pedestrian deaths in the U.S. — up 46 percent since 2009, with nearly 6,000 people killed in 2016 alone. With SUV sales surpassing sedans in 2014 and pickups and SUVs currently accounting for 60 percent of new vehicle sales, it's no wonder Ford announced in April plans to cease U.S. sales of almost all passenger cars. And this followed Fiat Chrysler's move to virtually an all-truck, -SUV and -crossover lineup. While the Freep/USA Today investigation found that the simultaneous surge in SUV sales and pedestrian deaths comes down to vehicle size, it also points to a lack of action on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), even though it knew of the dangers SUVs pose to pedestrians. Also blamed are automakers dragging their feet on implementing active safety features. Using federal accident data, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) determined that there was an 81 percent increase in single-vehicle pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs between 2009 and 2016. Freep/USA Today's analysis of the same data by counting vehicles that struck and killed pedestrians instead of the number of people killed showed a 69 percent increase in SUV involvement. As far back as 2001, researchers at Rowan University forecasted a rise in pedestrian deaths as Americans began switching to SUVs. "In the United States, passenger vehicles are shifting from a fleet populated primarily by cars to a fleet dominated by light trucks and vans," the researchers wrote, with light trucks comprising SUVs.

Mercedes-Benz GLA Concept crossover leaked ahead of Shanghai debut

With just a few days left before the start of the Shanghai Motor Show, images of the Mercedes-Benz GLA Concept compact crossover have emerged online. The little 'ute is based on the small A-Class hatchback, and though it shares an identical wheelbase, is larger in every other dimension.
Looking like a rough-and-tumble five-door hatchback on the tippy toes of its 20-inch wheels, the GLA is most certainly destined for production in a toned down form that will borrow many bits and pieces from other cars based on this platform like the aforementioned A-Class and the CLA-Class sedan. Carscoop reports that the production version of the GLA will be revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September of this year, with sales to the public starting in 2014.
Since it's based on the A-Class, we expect that the production GLA-Class will be powered by your choice of Mercedes' 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine and a diesel or two, and will offer transmissions that include the company's seven-speed DCT and perhaps a six-speed manual (at least in Europe). If the GLA follows the same path as the two cars before it, expect a GLA45 AMG producing over 300 horsepower, as well. As for what powers the GLA Concept, that just might remain a mystery until the vehicle is officially revealed in China.