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Mercedes chief invites Audi, BMW to compete in F1

Mercedes-Benz didn't just win the Formula One World Championship in 2014 – it positively dominated it. The team won all but three of the grands prix this season, scoring a one-two finish at more than half of them and landing at least one car on the podium at every race without exception. It goes without saying, then, that the German automaker thrives on competition, but now it's welcoming even more. Speaking with Germany's Sport Bild at its homecoming celebration in Stuttgart, Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche welcomed Mercedes' biggest rivals Audi and BMW to join it on the F1 grid. Noting that the three German brands share some 80 percent of the market for luxury automobiles, Zetsche said that F1 would make a natural arena of competition for Mercedes, Audi and BMW to fight for top bragging rights. The three currently compete against each other in front of home audiences in the DTM touring car series – effectively Germany's equivalent to NASCAR – but of the ten races held this year, the majority were in Germany itself, and all of them took place in Europe. BMW last competed in F1 when it bought the Sauber team in 2006, but withdrew from the series in 2009. Despite its progenitor Auto Union having fielded the famous Silver Arrows in pre-war grand prix racing, Audi has never been a player in modern F1 racing, though recent rumors have linked it to a potential foray – spurred by the arrival of sister-company Porsche on its home turf at Le Mans, the departure of several of its key endurance drivers and the hiring of former Scuderia Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali. Porsche had similarly considered an F1 program before getting the go-ahead to compete with Audi at Le Mans. As for the prospect of Mercedes competing in other international racing series, Zetsche added that year-long preparations for 24 hours of racing at Le Mans didn't present a good cost-benefit ratio in his estimation, but that Formula E (where Audi currently supports a quasi-works entry) would be worth a closer look.

Watch Emily Blunt and John Krasinski prank Jimmy Kimmel's SUV

Jimmy Kimmel has a bit of a rivalry going with Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. Not like the "I'm on television, you're on the radio" one he has with his former Man Show co-host Adam Carolla (who of course has more to do with cars than the last name he almost shares with a Toyota economy sedan). With Blunt and Krasinski, it's more of a prank rivalry. The Hollywood couple, you see, live across the street from Kimmel, and they're all good friends. But come the holiday season, things get a little competitive. One year they broke into Jimmy's house and left an illuminated snowman and some sort of santa bear in his foyer. Jimmy retaliated, the Krasinskis escalated, and up and up things went until Jimmy had their entire house wrapped like a gift. John and Emily weren't going to leave it at that, though, and took things in a decidedly more automotive direction. They gift-wrapped the host's BMW X5 and filled it with balls. But they didn't stop there. You'll want to watch the footage above to see how things ended, just take note of the roll cage visible as Krasinski-Clause stumbles out of the car in that last scene and remember that, while we couldn't say no vehicles were actually harmed in the making of this segment, at least it doesn't appear to have actually been Kimmel's.

BMW joins the mirrorless car club at CES

Another item the future promised us is finally arriving: cameras for rearview mirrors. It's coming on the Cadillac CT6, Audi played around with the idea in its Le Mans racers, and Tesla has plans to get in on the action. And now add BMW to that list with the i8 Mirrorless concept revealed at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In BMW's scheme, three cameras replace the mirrors. One big adjustment from years of automotive convention is the lack of any side glances for the driver. A display in place of the conventional rearview mirror shows a composite wide-angle image. Imminent hazards, such as a vehicle in the blind spot, are shown with yellow warning icons. Previous mirrorless designs have mounted cameras flush with the body, but the i8 Mirrorless uses wing-like side cameras. They also serve as turn signal indicators. We assume that the narrow profile is more aerodynamic than the housing for a large piece of reflective glass. Also in BMW's CES bag of tricks is the BMW i3 Extended Rearview Mirror. This uses a rear-facing, roof-mounted camera that overlays images on the conventional interior mirror. But we do have some questions – what happens when the cameras get dirty? Mirrors still work even when partially obscured by dirt. And when will these ideas see production? Stay tuned as we'll follow up with answers from BMW's booth on the CES show floor soon.