1978 Ferrari 308 Gts Base Coupe 2-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Race Recap: Belgian Grand Prix is new skirmishes, same war [spoilers]

It's been four weeks since we last saw a Formula One race, when Lewis Hamilton improbably put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas in P1 in Hungary. Even more improbably, he held onto the first spot at the finish of the race, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in the Lotus and Sebastian Vettel in the Infiniti Red Bull.
Resuming the season at Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps circuit this weekend, Hamilton picked up his recent - and just as improbable - pole-setting form by putting the Mercedes in P1 for the fourth time in a row. The effort came during a qualifying session visited by intermittent rains and dry spells, his 54th trip to the front of the pack, tying Niki Lauda.
But neither the fireworks and surprises, the mid-field full of backmarkers, nor the tire strategies and timing choices changed the mission for the drivers in with a chance at the title: finish in front of Vettel.

Ferrari F12 TdF shrieks like a banshee on the Gumball

With all the exotic metal (or carbon) participating in the Gumball 3000 rally each year, it takes something truly exceptional to turn heads. The new Ferrari F12 TdF is up to the challenge. For those who may have missed the reveal back in October (and this week's episode of Top Gear), the F12 TdF could very well be the ultimate naturally-aspirated twelve-cylinder Prancing Horse. And by "ultimate," we mean possibly the last, before turbochargers and hybrids take over Maranello completely. Named after the legendary Tour de France (for automobiles, not cyclists), Maranello's latest is based on the F12 Berlinetta, but like the 599 GTO before it, the TdF pushes the envelope even further. Its 6.3-liter atmospheric V12 revs all the way up to 8,900 rpm, producing a monstrous 769 horsepower and 520 pound-feet of torque along the way – enough, in other words, to put the Lamborghini Aventador SV (and most anything else) to shame. It'll reach 62 miles per hour from a standstill in less than three seconds, top out at over 211 mph, lap Fiorano faster than any road car this side of LaFerrari, and slide around all day and all night with its four-wheel steering system. And it screams. Don't take our word for it: turn up the speakers, hit "play," and listen to the F1-like shriek it emits out in the wild. Related Video: News Source: Marchettino via YouTube Ferrari Coupe Performance Videos ferrari f12 gumball 3000 ferrari f12 tdf

Hamilton wins in Singapore as Vettel crashes out from pole

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton took a huge stride toward his fourth Formula One title on Sunday by winning an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix after Ferrari title rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out at the start. The Mercedes driver now has a 28-point cushion over the German with six of the 20 races remaining. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who also emerged from the opening lap carnage unscathed, was second for the third year in a row with Finland's Valtteri Bottas completing the podium for Mercedes. "God blessed me today for sure," said Hamilton, who set a lap record on his way to a third win in a row, as he spoke from the podium on a night where everything fell into his lap. "I came here today really thinking it was about damage limitation, and we've come out ahead. So I'm very grateful," he said later. "To come to a track that was potentially our weakest circuit, and come away with a win like this and those points, it's really such a fortunate scenario... so I definitely have a skip in my step." The Briton cashed in after Vettel, Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull's front row contender Max Verstappen smashed into each other as they raced off the wet starting grid and into the first corner. Raikkonen had made a storming start from fourth, Vettel a less impressive one from pole position while Verstappen went for the middle ground and was caught in a Ferrari sandwich as they converged. The stewards summoned all three and decided no driver was predominantly to blame. BITTER BLOW The first race to be hit by rain in the decade that Singapore has hosted Formula One had started in treacherous conditions, puddles gleaming in the floodlights, after a formation lap behind the safety car. With Hamilton starting fifth, everything looked set for Vettel to retake the overall lead that he had surrendered only two weeks earlier at Monza in Italy. And then it all went wrong, the collision with Raikkonen punching a hole in the side of Vettel's car before he spun into the wall at turn three. "It's bitter but it's done," said the German, a four times Singapore GP winner, whose retirement ended a run of 18 successive points finishes and left him with a mountain to climb. "Championship-wise it's a big step forward," recognized Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. "The quickest car and the quickest driver were out within a minute into the race and that can happen all the time.