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Max Verstappen beats Charles Leclerc to win Austrian Grand Prix

SPIELBERG, Austria — Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix after beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in a wheel-banging battle of the 21-year-olds on Sunday, subject to a Formula One stewards' enquiry. The Dutchman's victory for the second year in a row at Spielberg also dealt champions Mercedes their first defeat of the season. Verstappen seized the lead from Leclerc, who had led from pole position, two laps from the end with the dueling pair making contact into the tight uphill turn three as the crowd roared. Race stewards investigated the contact after the race, and ultimately cleared Verstappen. He crossed the line, acclaimed by thousands of orange-shirted Dutch fans at a circuit owned by Red Bull, 2.7 seconds ahead of the Monegasque. The pair were the sport's youngest ever top two. Valtteri Bottas was third for Mercedes, who saw their streak of 10 successive wins — eight this season — come to an end. Championship-leading teammate Lewis Hamilton, winner of the previous four races, finished fifth and behind Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Five-times world champion Hamilton remains well in front in the standings, 31 clear of Finland's Bottas after nine of 21 races. HONDA FIRST The victory was the first for a Honda-powered car since Britain's Jenson Button won in Hungary in 2006 for the Japanese manufacturer's own team, and a welcome antidote to last weekend's dull French Grand Prix. Verstappen, now with six career wins, was also the last driver to beat Mercedes — in the Mexican Grand Prix last October. "For Honda to win again here is incredible," said the youngster, who had to fight back from eighth at the end of the first lap after getting bogged down on the front row at the start. The Red Bull came into a league of its own after the pitstops with Verstappen scything through the field one car at a time and then chasing down Leclerc. "After that start, I thought the race was over," said Verstappen. "It's hard racing, otherwise we have to stay at home. If those things are not allowed in racing, then what's the point of being in Formula One," he added when asked about the summons. The Monegasque, forced wide as Verstappen went through, said he would let the stewards decide. "On the incident for me it was pretty clear in the car," he said. "I don't know what it looked like from the outside but we'll see what the decision is.

Top Gear names BMW i8 Car of the Year, Corvette, Ferrari, Mercedes also win big

The lads at Top Gear have released their listing of the finest cars of the past year, handing the ultimate honor to BMW's revolutionary i8 plug-in-hybrid supercar. "The i8 is a milestone in the annals of automotive history and a glorious statement for an exciting and positive future. The i8 delivers - and then some," the British mag wrote. The i8, though, was far from the only hybridized car to take victories. James May and Richard Hammond both highlighted hybrids as their personal cars of the year, with May saluting the Ferrari LaFerrari and the Hamster, unsurprisingly, heaping praise on the Porsche 918 Spyder. Jeremy Clarkson, meanwhile, opted to shock many by selecting not only an American car as his best of 2014, but giving the honor to of all things, a Corvette. Clarkson wasn't the only person to honor the USA's iconic sports car, with the new, 650-horsepower Z06 variant being named TG's Muscle Car of the Year. Other big winners include Mercedes-Benz, which TG honored for S-Class Coupe (Luxury Car of the Year), the new AMG GT (Sports Car of the Year) and the not-for-US C-Class Estate (Family Car of the Year). The 458 Italia Speciale A snagged a second win for Ferrari. The best of the rest include the Citroen C4 Cactus, Renault Twingo, Volkswagen Golf R, Lamborghini Huracan and Audi TT. Take a look below for the celebratory press blast from BMW. The BMW i8 wins Top Gear Car of the Year The BMW i8 has been named as Top Gear magazine's global Car of the Year 2014. The plug-in hybrid performance vehicle beat off some stiff competition from a host of other premium and luxury manufacturers to win the overall award. The editorial team of Top Gear commended the BMW i8 for its breadth of abilities. Its 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine combined with an electric motor gives searing acceleration and driver enjoyment but all wrapped in a package that takes BMW's EfficientDynamics philosophy to the extreme courtesy of CO2 emissions less than 49g/km and a 135mpg combined cycle figure. Charlie Turner, Editor in Chief at Top Gear magazine, said: "The BMW is a milestone in the annals of automotive history and a glorious statement for an exciting and positive future. The i8 delivers – and then some. It's the kind of car we should celebrate, a beautiful vision of the future, delivered now.

Weekly Recap: Ferrari pens a provocative F1 car of the future

Scuderia Ferrari unveiled its vision of the future for Formula One this week, revealing sketches of a sleek, muscular racecar. Called the Concept F1, Ferrari is showcasing the design to start a conversation about the next generation of Formula One cars and spur interest in the sport, which has been maligned for its unattractive racecars in recent years. The Concept F1 was penned by the company's in-house studio, Centro Stile Ferrari, with input from its aerodynamics department. Though the sketches look futuristic, the company says the design could be executed without changing F1 regulations. From its beginning, Ferrari's racecars have had both form and function, winning on the track and turning heads with everything from the 250 Testa Rossa, 330 P3, Michael Schumacher's single-seaters from the early 2000s and many others. That lineage led the Scuderia's leaders to survey the paddock, wring their hands and come up with the Concept F1. As Ferrari said on its website: "Our challenge was to create something that was – to put it short – better looking." It's a philosophy that was implemented for this season's car, the SF15-T. While not groundbreaking in appearance, Ferrari cleaned up the design, particularly up front, and the racecar now has a more attractive nose that delivers better aerodynamics. It's more of the same in back, where a tighter design creates more downforce. "This year's car is certainly an awful lot better looking than last year's car," Ferrari technical director James Allison said in a video on the Scuderia's website. The updates come as Ferrari, and all F1 teams, get a better handle on the extensive 2014 rule changes that brought back turbocharged engines and altered the aerodynamic regulations for the series. Less dramatic changes also are going into effect this year. Ferrari, which is coming off a disappointing fourth-place finish in the World Championship, is obviously looking to the future. Appearances have always mattered for the red cars. We'll see if they bring the Scuderia success this season and beyond. Other News and Notes Next-generation Chrysler Town & Country spied Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is hard at work on the next-gen Town & Country minivan, and our spy shooters have captured heavily covered prototypes during testing on the road. We can't tell anything about the exterior design, though we see glimpses of an instrument panel (which looks vaguely Dodge Charger-esque) and infotainment screen inside.