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Lewis Hamilton cruises to victory at the Singapore Grand Prix

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Britain's Lewis Hamilton eased to victory from pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday as the Mercedes driver extended his championship lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to 40 points with six rounds remaining. Hamilton held off a mid-race challenge from Red Bull's Max Verstappen to register a record-equaling fourth triumph at the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit track, while Vettel finished third to slip further behind in the title race. "Great job everyone, what a weekend... keep pushing, keep pushing, we've got this," Hamilton told his team over the radio soon after crossing the line at the end of the 61st lap. Hamilton's 69th overall victory was his seventh of the season and it was built on the foundations of a stunning qualifying lap on Saturday, when he stormed to pole in a car deemed inferior to the Ferraris and Red Bulls on this circuit. For Vettel and Ferrari it was another disappointing weekend after the car showed plenty of pace through all three practice sessions, the German's cause not helped by a questionable strategy and a poor pitstop. Hamilton won this race from the third row a year ago when Vettel, Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen collided before Turn One but there was no repeat of such drama this time after the drivers got off to a clean start at the head of the field. There has, however, been a safety car period in every race in Singapore since it joined Formula One in 2008 and it was deployed on the opening lap after Sergio Perez pushed his Force India team mate Esteban Ocon into a wall after Turn Three. "Sorry guys there was no room," Perez told his team over the radio. Vettel got past Verstappen before the safety car emerged and slotted in behind Hamilton, but his race unraveled when the German pitted first on the 14th lap but got stuck in traffic and overtaken by the Dutchman when he made his stop for fresh tires. BACK MARKERS Hamilton was cruising up front but suffered a mini-crisis on the 38th lap when he got stuck in a queue of tail-enders, which allowed Verstappen to get right up behind him. The Dutchman had a look up the inside as Hamilton struggled to pass the back markers but the Briton just stayed ahead and was able to pull clear all the way to the checkered flag once he had a clear track ahead of him. "It definitely got a little bit interesting toward the end with the back markers as you could already feel the draft from the cars when you were five and six seconds behind," Hamilton added.

ATS rises from the ashes with its gorgeous GT supercar

Here's a name we haven't heard from in a while: Automobili Turismo e Sport is throwing its name back as an entrant in the war of the supercars with its new GT, a coupe that serves as a successor to a never-produced gran turismo car from the 1960s. True to its rarified segment, just 12 models will be produced starting at about $1.33 million, each highly customized to the purchaser's tastes. The coupe is a successor to the 2500 GT, which was revealed at the 1963 Paris Motor Show but never went into production before the entire company shut down in 1964. ATS was launched by Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini after leaving Ferrari in 1961 due to a dispute with Enzo Ferrari. The initial aim was to beat Ferrari, and the company managed to produce a Formula One racer and the mid-engine 2500 GT. Despite teasing several models in recent years, the GT will be the company's first new production supercar in nearly half a century. Today's version of the company is being run by ATS's design chief, Emanuele Bomboi, and Daniele Maritan, a former race car driver turned importer and distributor of fast sports cars. The company insists this rebirth "is not a 'nostalgia' operation" and says it has other ideas it plans to develop beyond the GT. Bombi formerly worked for Fiat and Bertone, and it shows in the GT's styling. "The side silhouette of this new Gran Turismo is charged with energy, with clean lines framing arched surfaces," the company says. "The outlines above the wheel are evocative while a clean flowing line divides the car's upper and lower halves. As with the original car's design, the windows provide a focus for the flanks of the car." The new car also borrows its predecessor's front spoiler, which runs the whole width of the car with the same blue Dragon of Bologna logo, with two stripes running along the bonnet. It gets a carbon fiber body and chassis for a curb weight of 2,866 pounds. Powering the GT is a 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V8 mounted behind the cabin that does 650 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque. Or, buyers can upgrade to a 700-horsepower version with 553 lb-ft of torque. Either is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that drives the rear wheels. Zero to 60 time is around 3 seconds, and top speed is around 206 mph. Three driving modes are offered — Viaggio, Sport and Corsa — with each configuration changing the colors of the cockpit controls from blue, to yellow and red, respectively. Does that sound a lot like the McLaren 650S to you?

Mike Manley named CEO of FCA amid Sergio Marchionne health crisis

Mike Manley has been immediately granted "all the powers of CEO" of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. In a statement, FCA said its Board of Directors made this decision "in order to provide for his full authority and operational continuity for the company." Manley, who has been at the helm of Jeep since 2009 and Ram since 2015, is expected to be named an executive director for FCA after the next shareholder's meeting. In a similar statement, Ferrari said it had "named John Elkann as Chairman and will propose to Shareholders, at a meeting to be called in the coming days, that Louis C. Camilleri be named as CEO." CNH Industrial, a company that makes trucks, agricultural, and industrial equipment and which Marchionne also chairs, named Suzanna Heywood, as his replacement. Sergio Marchionne, who had served as CEO of both FCA and Ferrari, suffered "unexpected complications" as he was recovering from surgery performed earlier this month. FCA's statement adds that these complications "have worsened significantly in recent hours." Marchionne, credited with rescuing Fiat and Chrysler from bankruptcy since taking the wheel at the Italian carmaker in 2004, had been due to step down as the head of Fiat Chrysler next April. His internal successor had yet to be named. Marchionne had previously said he planned to stay on as Ferrari Chairman and CEO until 2021.Reuters contributed to this report.Related Video: Image Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Chrysler Ferrari Fiat Sergio Marchionne