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Sebastian Vettel signs with Racing Point for the 2021 F1 season

LONDON — Four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel will drive for Racing Point starting next season. The team, which will be renamed Aston Martin, announced the move Thursday, a day after driver Sergio Perez said he was on his way out. The team said Vettel has signed for the 2021 season “and beyond" but did not reveal the length of the contract. “The signing of Sebastian is a clear statement of the teamÂ’s ambition to establish itself as one of the most competitive names in the sport," the team said in a statement. “As a four-time world champion, Sebastian brings a fresh mindset to the team." One of the most successful drivers in F1, Vettel is leaving Ferrari at the end of this season after he was not offered a new contract. He will be replaced by McLaren driver Carlos Sainz at Ferrari next year. Vettel has won 53 grand prix races, a tally only surpassed by Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. He won four consecutive titles with Red Bull from 2010-13 and joined Ferrari in 2015 with the aim to win another. But he never had a car really capable of challenging Mercedes during his stint with the Scuderia, where he lost his No. 1 status as teammate Charles Leclerc came to prominence. “ItÂ’s a new adventure for me with a truly legendary car company," Vettel said. “I have been impressed with the results the team has achieved this year, and I believe the future looks even brighter. I still have so much love for Formula One and my only motivation is to race at the front of the grid." Currently fourth in the constructors' standings, Racing Point was handed a 400,000 euro ($470,000) fine and docked 15 points last month for copying a Mercedes design for its brake ducts. The team, however, was allowed to continue to use the offending components this season. Racing PointÂ’s other driver is Lance Stroll, the son of co-owner Lawrence Stroll. Motorsports Aston Martin Ferrari F1 Sebastian Vettel

007 Questions for James Bond's stunt master

You may not know the name, but you almost certainly have seen some of his work. Chris Corbould has been the special effects supervisor for every James Bond film since 1995's "GoldenEye," and has worked in some way on every one since 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me." In between Bond movies, he's been the special effects supervisor on such low-budget indie flicks as the three Dark Knight Batman films and Star Wars episodes VII and VIII. Oh, and he won an Oscar for his work on "Inception." I was lucky enough to virtually sit down with Mr. Corbould ahead of the long-awaited release of "No Time to Die", which my colleague Zac Palmer has seen and reported back about all the cars featured in the 25th Bond movie. Mr. Corbould shared some of his experiences creating some of the most iconic stunt sequences in the series' history, including how things have changed over the years, how Bond movies are different and what it's like to not only engineer the stunts, but some of the cars featured in them. Autoblog: What's the biggest difference between working on a Bond film versus other franchise films? Chris Corbould: I think one of the big things is the history behind it. This is the 25th Bond film now and [although] we have to keep changing for the times, there's also a lot of boxes that have to be checked. There are two car chases in this, one with a DB5 in an urban environment and one with a Land Rover Defender in a very very rural environment. [We have to] come up with original ideas for those chases. But the biggest thing working on a Bond film is they always pride themselves in doing the sequences as much as they can for real. Autoblog: I actually unearthed an interview with you in 1999 where you said that "The Bond people pride themselves on STILL doing stunts for real" as opposed to CGI. And that was 22 years ago. Corbould: Yeah! I'm still saying it. Autoblog: How hard has it been to keep that ideology over the years, with changing technologies and capabilities? Corbould: It's not been hard really. The CGI guys have helped us out quite a bit by making our lives easier. They can paint cameras out, they can paint parts of rigs out if need be. The audience still has this fascination in knowing that something has been done for real as well. A lot of the big effects I've done on the James Bond films, there's as much interest in the behind the scenes of how we did the Tube train coming through the ceiling in "Skyfall", how we did the sinking house in "Casino Royale".

Aston Martin teases V12 Vantage twice more ahead of debut

If you can handle another tease of the coming Aston Martin V12 Vantage, here are two. The first is a photo of what will certainly be a riotous super coupe under a partially opaque Union Jack. We can't spot anything on the obscured car that we don't know about from prototypes (or suspect from reports); the headlights, side mirrors, fender vents, and wheels are all there. Phew!. Out back, the drapery hangs high, pulled over a high wing that will be part of the V12 Vantage's numerous aerodynamic accoutrements. The test vehicles we've seen have been wingless, fitting nothing more than a Gurney flap to the Vantage's tidy ducktail, so we'll have to find out if the wing is standard fit or an option.  Behind the extra large grille, everyone is expecting the brand's 5.2-liter V12. In the limited edition Speedster, which married the Vantage's chassis to the Superleggera's front end, that 12-cylinder made 690 horsepower and 555 pound-feet of torque. Predictions for V12 Vantage out range from about 600, roughly in line with the DB11, to about 670, which would be a massive hoot while leaving room enough not to fluster Speedster owners. Arriving 16.03.22#AstonMartin #V12Vantage #NeverLeaveQuietly — Aston Martin (@astonmartin) March 11, 2022 The second teaser is a brief Twitter video mood board with the admonition to "Never leave quietly." We'll hear the supercar's noise and find out about its backside on March 16, when the reveal happens. We should also find out then how many Aston Martin plans to make. A previous rumor put that production number at 299. The vehicle itself is expected to arrive for the 2023 model year as part of the standard Vantage's model update, sources saying there will only be 299 made. The standard 2023 Vantage will be part of an overhaul of the front-engined Aston Martins that result in more power, better dynamics, and better interiors. Related Video