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2015 Malaysian F1 GP springs hot, humid surprises [spoilers]

In the two weeks since Australia both Mercedes and Ferrari spoke of the improved performance from their respective cars. In Malaysia, Ferrari showed it. Lewis Hamilton still put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on pole position, but Sebastian Vettel got within two whiskers of the Brit, lining up second just 0.074 behind. Afterward, Vettel said Ferrari could win the race if everything went well. But in qualifying we didn't know how much of Ferrari's performance was truly down to the car and how much was down to the wet weather that struck near the beginning of Q2. The rain didn't hamper Nico Rosberg's run – the German said "I just didn't drive good enough" – and he took third spot in the second Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Showing what the Infiniti Red Bull Racing chassis can do when the power unit is working properly, teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat grabbed fourth and fifth. Whippersnapper Max Verstappen, in his second race, qualified in sixth with an excellent drive through the rain; just 0.030 behind Kvyat, he said he could have got fifth if he hadn't had a running problem with his brakes. Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley said he wouldn't complain about Mercedes' advantage, but Felipe Massa has spent the whole season so far banging the alarm about Ferrari's pace. He says Williams has lost its straight-line advantage, part of the reason the first Grove car is back in seventh, while Valtteri Bottas is in eighth. Between them was Romain Grosjean in the Lotus, but he got dropped two positions for a pit-lane infraction in Q2, so he'll be tenth. Ahead of him is Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber, who would lead the charge to turn in another surprise for the Swiss team. But the real surprise came from the Scuderia Ferrari, who, on a bright, sunny day proved that they don't need to add water for race-winning pace. While Hamilton got made usual awesome start at the lights, Vettel channeled that other famous German Ferrari driver and immediately cut across the track to intimidate Rosberg, maintaining his second place position into the first turn. Arguably the race-winning move came three laps later at that same turn, when Ericsson plunged in too fast and swapped ends, beaching the rear of his Sauber in the gravel trap. The safety car came out when the recovery truck emerged to retrieve the Sauber, and nearly all of the front-runners took to the pits to swap out of the medium tires. Vettel, however, didn't.

F1 teams to test titanium skid plates to reignite spark in series

The 2014 Formula One season opened with one overwhelming complaint - the cars didn't sound right. It sapped the excitement, despite the fact that this season has seen a number of truly thrilling races (Bahrain, Spain and Montreal all come to mind). Attempts have been made to restore some of the audible thrill of the cars, although efforts have remained unsuccessful.
If F1 can't fix the sound of the cars, then other methods need to be considered to restore its self-perceived lack of excitement. One of those involves fitting titanium skid plates to the cars in a bid to reintroduce the sparks that were so prevalent in the sport's past.
Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari conducted initial experiments with the new skid plates during early practice sessions for the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg had the plates fitted to different locations of their cars, in a bid to see which created the most dramatic sparks. Considering the photos the tests, though, neither Mercedes' nor Ferrari's setup really seemed successful, which is why you're seeing Johnny Herbert and his 1989 Benneton B188 up top.

The Ferrari 488 Challenge is the one-make series' first turbo car

Ferrari has revealed its newest Ferrari Challenge series racecar, just in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the one-make series next year. The new model is the 488 Challenge, and like its road-going sibling, it features a turbocharged V8. This makes the 488 Challenge the first car in the series to use a turbocharger, and at 670 CV (660 horsepower), it's the most powerful car the series has featured. The car made its debut at the season-ending Finali Mondiali event at Daytona International Speedway over the weekend. In addition to the new powertrain, the 488 Challenge gets other updates compared to its 458-based predecessor. The engine is lighter by more than 43 pounds, and the exhaust has lost nearly 19 pounds. The front bumper and the hood have been completely redesigned, and the rear wing is larger than its predecessor's. Drivers also now have a pair of manettinos (make that manettini) on the steering wheel for managing traction control settings, instead of one like on the road cars. One adjusts when it activates, and the other controls how aggressive the system is when it does kick in. Thanks to these various changes, the 488 Challenge is notably faster than the previous Challenge car, the 458 Challenge Evoluzione. Ferrari claims the 488 lapped its Fiorano test circuit a full second faster than the 458. You'll be able to see this new Ferrari in action in the coming year's Ferrari Challenge Series. But until the series starts, check out our live photos of the new machine above and a gallery of Ferrari-supplied images below. Related Video: