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F1 Race recap: 2016 Russian Grand Prix same as it ever was

The three-year-old Sochi Autodrom that hosts the Russian Grand Prix combines beautiful scenery with a hallmark turn 3, a tricky turn 13, and two long DRS zones. So far, however, those haven't added up to exciting races after the first lap. Despite an in-race issue with his car's MGU-K, Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg aced the weekend with his first career grand slam: pole position, fastest lap of the race, leading every lap, and victory. Behind him, not much happened on the leaderboard after an incident-filled opening lap. The drama started at turns 2 and 3. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel lined up in seventh on the grid because of a five-place gearbox penalty, Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat sat next to him in eighth. Kvyat hit the back of Vettel's Ferrari in the braking zone for Turn 2, shoving Vettel into Daniel Ricciardo – Kvyat's teammate. Kyvat then clobbered the back of Vettel's car at the entry to Turn 3, spinning the German into the wall and out of the race. Kvyat probably regrets saying before the race that he would show Vettel "no mercy" on the first lap. At the back of the grid at Turn 2, Haas F1's Esteban Gutierrez hit Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Manor's Rio Haryanto. Gutierrez continued, both the Force India and the Manor retired. A brief Virtual Safety Car period ensued, then the actual Safety Car emerged for three laps while marshals cleaned up the track. Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg nailed the restart and took off for the rest of the race. Teammate Lewis Hamilton battled his own gremlins all weekend but still finished second, 25 seconds behind Rosberg. During the final qualifying session on Saturday Hamilton's car suffered the same MGU-H failure as in China two weeks ago. The problem relegated him to tenth on the grid. In the race, Hamilton fought his way to second place by Lap 19 out of 53 laps and began closing the 13-second gap to Rosberg. On Lap 37, the gap now under eight seconds, Mercedes told Hamilton his car had a water pressure issue. The malfunction forced the Briton to manage his race and settle for second. Afterward, Hamilton said he was certain he could have won if not for the malfunction. The rest of the top ten barely changed throughout the contest. The first five positions on Lap 21 crossed the finish line in that order 32 laps later. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took the final podium position ahead of the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

1964 Ferrari 250 LM sets Arizona auction record at $9.6 million [w/video]

We've seen some high-priced metal come up under the hammer in Arizona over the years, but the one you're looking at right here is the most expensive ever sold during the famous auction weekend. It's a Ferrari 250 Le Mans from 1964, the ninth of just 32 examples made. And RM Auctions just sold it for $9,625,000. That doesn't make it the most expensive Ferrari ever sold at auction, or even the top price paid for a 250 LM: according to figures from Sports Car Market, the same auction house has handled the top five highest-grossing 250 LMs of all time, including the 1965 Le Mans winner that sold in New York in 2013 for $14.3 million and another that sold last August in Monterey for $11.5 million. But it does make this example, according to RM, "the most valuable automobile sold in Arizona auction history." One of the earliest mid-engined Ferraris, the 250 LM was the last of Maranello's Le Mans winners. This particular example, chassis number 5899 GT, was sold by the factory to the famed Swiss racing team Scuderia Filipinetti, winning the Sierre-Montana Crans Hill Climb fresh out the box, followed immediately by another win at the XV Coppa Inter-Europa at Monza – both at the hands of Ferrari F1 and Le Mans drivers. After Filipinetti was done with it, 5899 GT was displayed at the Geneva Motor Show, was sold off the stand and changed hands a few more times – including one owner who oddly replaced the bodywork with that of a Porsche 906 Carrera 6 and another who swapped out the engine. It went on to win many more races, and was ultimately reunited with its original engine and proper bodywork. Restored several times over, 5899 GT was certified ten years ago by the Ferrari Classiche department and was even displayed at the factory museum in Maranello. The 250 LM wasn't the only noteworthy lot RM sold this weekend in the Frank Lloyd Wright Ballroom at the Arizona Biltmore, though. Several other Ferraris sold in the millions, from a '67 275 GTB/4 that sold for $3.6 million to a 2005 FXX Evoluzione for $1.6 million. The '71 Lamborghini Miura SVJ that was tipped to break the $2-million mark ultimately sold for under $1.9M, and the '84 Audi Sport Quattro ultimately dropped right in its estimate range at $401,500. All told, RM sold 90 percent of the metal it was consigned for the event, bringing in a whopping $63.7 million in sales. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2016 Malaysian Grand Prix recap: Surprises and missed opportunities

Mercedes-AMG Petronas pilot Lewis Hamilton drove so well in the run-up to the Malaysian Grand Prix that he said before the race, "Honestly, I don't feel anything is going to stop us." On Sunday, the Sepang race showed what it thought of plans and predictions. Heading into the right-hand Turn 1, Sebastian Vettel practically recreated the dust-up at the Belgian Grand Prix three races ago. When Mercedes' Nico Rosberg swept across from the outside line toward the apex, Red Bull's Max Verstappen had to jink right to avoid, touching Vettel's Ferrari on the inside. Vettel speared straight on and hit Rosberg. Vettel's left front suspension broke, ending his race. Rosberg spun and got moving again, but at the back of the pack. That appeared to put Hamilton on a clear run to the checkered flag. His car looked perfect, his pace was perfect, he easily kept Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen behind. A result that would have seen Hamilton retake control of the Driver's Championship – at Petronas' home race – got crushed on Lap 41 when Hamilton's engine blew down the main straight. That put Ricciardo in the lead, followed closely by his teammate. Just two laps before Hamilton's exit, Ricciardo and Verstappen had battled for second place with some of the best driving we've seen all season. Ricciardo drove as if exorcising the demons of missed opportunities earlier in the year, keeping the young Dutchman behind. The two Red Bulls took the flag fifteen laps later in that order, clocking the first one-two finish for a team other than Mercedes since 2014. It's Red Bull's first one-two since Brazil 2013, when Vettel and Mark Weber took the top steps at the last race of the V8 era. Rosberg recovered to take third in spite of a ten-second penalty for an optimistic pass on Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn crossed the line 12 seconds later, followed by Valtteri Bottas in the Williams and Sergio Perez in the Force India. In another Belgium repeat, Fernando Alonso drove from the back of the grid to finish seventh. Nico Hulkenberg secured eighth, Jenson Button ninth for McLaren in his 300th grand prix, and rookie Jolyon Palmer scored his first point of the season for Renault in tenth. The issue to trump all others from now until next week's Japanese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton's terrible luck with engines. Power unit gremlins earlier this season helped drop the Brit to 43 points behind Rosberg after the Russian Grand Prix.