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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.

Mercedes-AMG GT S aggressively priced at $129,900*

Just a few days ago we brought you leaked information regarding pricing for Mercedes' new flagship supercar. Now the German automaker has confirmed that the new Mercedes-AMG GT S will indeed retail for $129,900 (*plus a $925 destination charge). That may seem like a big chunk of change, and by most standards it is. But it starts to fall into reasonable territory when you put it into context. For one thing, it's not the most expensive Mercedes – not by a long shot. The previous SLS AMG fetched around $200k, and most anything else at the top of the AMG range – like the S63, SL63, G63 or GL63 – will set you back more than the new GT S, and don't even get us started on anything with the V12 and the number 65. The new Maybach S600 will set you back nearly $190k, and that bonkers G63 6x6 goes for over half a million. As for its rivals, the pricing places the AMG GT S right on pace with the Porsche 911 GT3 (whose 475 horsepower the Benz neatly trumps with 503 hp) and a good $20k less than the more powerful 911 Turbo. It also comes closer to the $115,900 that Audi charges for an R8 with a V8 than the $153,900 it gets for the ten-cylinder version, although the Benz edges closer to the latter in terms of output. The pricing does make it a fair bit more expensive than even the top end of the Jaguar F-Type range, which (short of the Project 7 speedster) maxes out at under $100k for the R model. Contrary to its predecessor and the SLR that came before, however, Benz is wisely staying out of Ferrari/Lamborghini/McLaren territory this time around. In short, Mercedes has clearly weighed its pricing strategy carefully. But if $130k is still too rich for your blood, the less potent base Mercedes-AMG GT will follow in the spring of 2016 with less power (quoted at 456 hp) and with a list price that's yet to be announced but promises to be a fair bit lower. In the meantime, deliveries of the GT S are scheduled to commence in April of this year. MERCEDES-BENZ ANNOUNCES PRICING ON ALL-NEW MY2016 MERCEDES-AMG GT S New Sports Car to Start at $129,900* January 23, 2015 - MONTVALE, NJ With the new Mercedes-AMG GT model range, the Mercedes-AMG sports car brand is moving into a new segment. As the second sports car developed entirely in-house by Mercedes-AMG, the GT has everything you would expect from an authentic Mercedes-AMG, from the characteristic styling, thoroughbred motorsport technology to the optimum weight distribution.

Maybach officially discontinues all models for 2013

The word "Maybach" has joined the long list of synonyms for the word "kaput." Mercedes-Benz released the price list for the 2013 models of its super-luxury sedans, with the price column simply stating "Discontinued" for each one of them.
The 2012 models, should there be any left for 11th-hour buyers, maintain the increased MSRPs that Daimler slapped on them late last year after it was known the brand would be terminated next year. But you might still be able to wrangle that $100,000 rebate if you ask nicely, or in Russian, or have Rick Ross ask for you.
It shouldn't be too long before we see the ultimate version of the next generation S-Class, the S600 Pullman, that will replace Maybach. Intriguingly, it's said the Pullman will be offered with every S-Class engine, even the four-cylinder diesel.