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Assessing Sebastian Vettel's first 100 days as Infiniti's director of performance

Whenever a new US president is elected, we know to expect a performance review as soon as he (or she) has spent 100 days in office. Sebastian Vettel, arguably given a job that is more important to Infiniti than the US president, has been the brand's director of performance for one hundred revolutions of The Blue Marble, and Infiniti has put together a videographic glimpse of his work at Paul Ricard, in the US and England.
We probably won't really get a grip on the full results of his efforts for a while - we doubt that he's been in his post long enough to significantly alter the trajectory of the Q50 sedan, for instance. But then again, Infiniti insists he's been integral to the car's dynamics development regime, suggesting he's been working as a test driver for some time before these 100 days. Of course, Vettel is a race car driver and brand ambassador first and foremost, but when he tells a Q50 engineer that "For the future, I think it's more comfortable to have the shift paddles on the steering wheel," we get the sense that he won't hesitate to suggest changes in forthcoming products. Check out more of his inputs in the video below as well as a press release detailing his visit to the tech center in Cranfield, UK.

Infiniti Q80 Inspiration imagines future of brand's luxury flagship

Infiniti is among the best of the non-exotic brands when it comes to crafting concepts, with designers who just seem to know how to show a truly wild vehicle with subtle hints at a future model. Just take a look at its latest Q80 Inspiration at the 2014 Paris Motor Show to see what we mean.
Infiniti claims that the Q80 imagines how it would build a future, fullsize luxury sedan to take on the stalwart Mercedes-Benz S-Class. However, in the current form it seems like a flight of fancy. It's packed with fabulously weird styling tricks, including birdwing-shaped headlights. There's also the roof and windshield that look at first glance to be a single piece of teardrop-shaped glass terminating at a boat-tail rear. In addition, the Inspiration has every concept designer's favorite gimmick - suicide doors.
Under the hood sits a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 and electric motor hybrid with a claimed 550 horsepower. The company asserts that the powertrain is actually on the way in the next two years and could do 43 miles per gallon (5.5 liters per 100 kilometers), though it's not specified on what driving cycle that's calculated on.

Grand Prix of the Americas, Day 1 Recap: a city arose in the fields, and it was good

The Circuit of the Americas is the miracle in the fields, the track that no one thought would be finished in time to hold its appointed race. But the Texans got past the turmoil, and even though the heavy machinery was still working on dirt roads as July, come November 18 there was a beautiful, and completed, Formula 1 facility for Travis County to call its own. It was dusty, sure. But it was done, and F1 could come to town.
Infiniti, sponsors of Red Bull Racing, invited Autoblog to watch the first grand prix in America since 2007, and the first GP on a dedicated F1 course since the Phoenix street circuit in 1991. Here's a little recap of what we saw and fount out on day one.