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The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix flipped all the scripts

The Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit and the Hungaroring fly the flag for processional races, yet Spain's Circuit de Catalunya is arguably as bad. Before this weekend, the pole-sitter won the race 19 times out of the last 25 years. The front row of the grid produced 23 winners in the past 25 years. The racing gods edited that script this year, when a first-lap crash and two mid-race strategy changes kept things open until the end of the 66-lap race. It started when Mercedes-AMG Petronas teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton took each other out on Lap 1. After Rosberg passed pole-sitter Hamilton into Turn 1, Rosberg's car slowed through Turn 3, somehow in the wrong mode. Hamilton closed in on Rosberg so quickly that once the Brit ducked inside for the pass, he couldn't back out. Rosberg, however, closed the door so suddenly that Hamilton had no choice but to drive onto the grass. When Hamilton spun, he collected Rosberg and both Mercedes' ended up in the gravel trap. The stewards deemed it a racing incident. The crash put Red Bull teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen in the lead, followed by Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz and the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Both Ferraris cleared Sainz by Lap 10, leaving 56 laps for them to haul in the Red Bulls. Ferrari loosely followed Red Bull's pit strategies. Ricciardo pitted on Laps 11 and 28, Vettel pitted on Laps 15 and 37. Verstappen pitted on Laps 12 and 35, Raikkonen pitted on Laps 13 and 36. Pirelli predicted a three-stop race as the fastest and that the medium tire could only go about 23 laps. Verstappen and Raikkonen didn't get those memos. So while Ricciardo and Vettel came in for third stops the Dutchman and the Finn stayed out, with Verstappen ahead of Raikkonen at the front of the race as of Lap 43. That's when Verstappen – 18 years and 227 days old – proved how good a driver he is, lapping perfectly as second-place Raikkonen closed the gap to a little more than half a second. The Finn still couldn't get past the Dutchman down the pit straight even with the help of DRS, nor under braking at the only real passing opportunity into Turn 1. At the end of Lap 66 Verstappen crossed the line ahead of Raikkonen, a victorious end to Verstappen's first race weekend after being promoted to Red Bull. Further back, Vettel and Ricciardo fought for scraps, the German staying ahead to finish third.

$8.8m '58 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider highlights RM's Arizona auction

All manner of vehicles change hands at the annual auction extravaganza in Arizona, but never has one sold for as much as the Ferrari you see here. The car in question is an (obviously) eminently desirable 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider, one of only 50 ever made and purring onto the stage in flawless red over black livery with matching numbers of the coveted covered headlights straight from the factory.
When we reported on the car's consignment in anticipation of this weekend's sale, it was expected to bring in between $7 and 9 million - and it's done just that, coming in near the top of its valuation with a winning bid of $8.8 million. That makes for a lot of zeros, but while it set a new record for the Arizona auctions, it hardly makes it the most expensive in the world. That honor still belongs to the Mercedes-Benz W196 that sold last summer for nearly $30 million. Nor is it the most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction, an honor which still belongs to the 250 Testa Rossa that sold for over $16 million in 2011. Heck, it's not even the most expensive 250 California ever sold, coming in behind the SWB example that sold for nearly $11 million in 2008. All of which only goes to show just how insane the collector classic car market has grown in recent years.
The California was undeniably the highlight of RM's two-day sale, but was joined by several other seven-dollar lots, including a 1961 Porsche 718 ($2.75 million), a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso ($2.44 million), a Duesenberg Model J convertible ($2.2 million) and several other million-dollar Ferraris, Mercedes and a '35 Hispano-Suiza. A 1961 Chaparral 1 failed to reach its reserve price despite a high bid of $1.75 million, neither did a 1966 Porsche 906 Carrera 6 at $1.18 million or a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 at $2.85 million. RM Auctions did, however, manage to sell 85 percent of those lots consigned to bring in a massive two-day total of $45.56 million in sales, details of which you can read in the press release below.

Jock Clear, Lewis Hamilton's race engineer at Mercedes, moves to Ferrari

The HR office at the Ferrari Formula One team has been exceptionally busy this year, and the churn hasn't ceased. Just this month under new team principal Mauricio Arrivabene – the third team principal in 2014 – lead designer Nikolas Tombazis and engineering director Pat Fry were let go, and tire performance expert Hirohide Hamashima will leave the team at the end of the year. Now there's another batch of HR paperwork to be completed, but this is a new hire to join Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Gutierrez: Jock Clear, Lewis Hamilton's performance engineer this season at Mercedes AMG Petronas. Clear will take over Pat Fry's vacant role as head of engineering, and brings a Driver's World Championship pedigree with him, having helped Hamilton to his second title and Jacques Villeneuve to his sole title in 1997 with Williams. He hasn't joined the Scuderia yet, though; Ferrari is still negotiating with Mercedes to "secure his services as soon as possible." Clear will work in a totally revamped engineering department and report to technical director and ex-Lotus F1 man James Allison. The last time Ferrari went an entire season without a win was 1993. The team has attempted to hedge expectations for 2015, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne saying, "I think hopefully within the next 12 months we will remove all the baggage of uncertainty that is going to plague at least the initial phase of 2015." Hope springs yet, though: when Arrivabene was asked what he'd be happy with next year, he said, "two or three wins." News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Motorsports Ferrari F1