2013 Mclaren Mp4-12c Spider on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2015 Brazilian Grand Prix is the same as it ever was

At this point, we hope Nico Rosberg is planning to carry his current qualifying form into the 2016 season and back it up with the same kind of race-day cojones he showed winning the race in Mexico City two weeks ago. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver got it right enough again on Saturday afternoon to take his fifth consecutive pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton by almost a tenth of a second. It's the same one-two from Brazil last year. The bad news for the rest of the field is that the winner in Brazil the last seven years has been one of the two drivers on the front row. Last year it was the Williams duo that lined up behind Mercedes, this year it's Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel plays the stalking horse, securing third in his Ferrari ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen in fourth. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas actually qualified in fourth, but he had to serve a three-spot grid penalty for passing under red flags in Free Practice 2, so he started sixth. That promoted Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg up to fifth. Daniil Kvyat was the quickest representative from Infiniti Red Bull Racing, getting into seventh even with a Renault power unit that's weak on some of the key stretches at the Interlagos track. Felipe Massa had the second Williams in eighth, in front of the second Red Bull driven by Daniel Ricciardo in ninth. Toro Rosso hasn't confirmed its drivers for next year but Max Verstappen keeps making it hard to look elsewhere, taking 10th. Rosberg is working nearly the same trick he pulled last year: drive like a second driver for most of the year, drive like a world champion for the last quarter of a season. He pulled away at the start and covered Hamilton just enough on the run to the first corner to keep Hamilton on the outside. By the end of Turn 1 the German had the lead and didn't give it up for the rest of the race outside of pit stops. Without overwhelming pace to pass and unable to follow closely, Hamilton could do nothing except ask his team for a different strategy to go for the win. When Mercedes told him "No," trying to protect Rosberg's second place in the championship ahead of Vettel, that was the race. Just like last year, Rosberg and Hamilton finished one-two. Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, and Kvyat drove lonely races to finish in positions three through seven.

Rowan Atkinson sells his McLaren F1 for $12 million

With little over a hundred produced (including prototypes and racers), there aren't a lot of McLaren F1 owners out there. Rowan Atkinson is among the most prominent, but he won't be any longer as reports from the UK reveal that he's sold his F1. The actor best known for his role as Mr. Bean bought his McLaren back in 1997 when it was still new for what was then a princely sum of GBP540,000 (about $830k). He drove it regularly over the nearly two decades since, putting some 41,000 miles on the odometer and crashing it twice – the most recent collision in 2011 cost his insurers a reported $1.4 million to fix. With values for the McLaren F1 skyrocketing, Atkinson put it on the market earlier this year. The consignment was handled by London classic and supercar broker Taylor & Crawley, headed by the same David Clark who sold Atkinson the car when he served as McLaren's sales director. Although the final transaction price has not been disclosed, the original asking price was GBP8 million – equivalent to over $12 million at current exchange rates. The supercar was reportedly purchased by another British enthusiast who intends to drive it as frequently as Atkinson did. Private treaty sales like this (where prices are not generally disclosed) notwithstanding, the Atkinson sale would eclipse the highest price paid to date for the iconic supercar at auction. According to Sports Car Market, the top price paid was at Pebble Beach in 2013, where Gooding & Co sold one for just under $8.5 million. The same event the following year saw one go unsold, despite a high bid of over $10 million. Related Video:

McLaren profits could quadruple on strength of P1

McLaren has had success on the track for the last 50 years, but its recent move into also building road cars full time is paying big dividends. The British automaker says that it expects revenue to double this year and pre-tax profit on deliveries to be four-times higher, thanks in no small part to selling out of its million-dollar P1. "It's the main year in which we deliver McLaren P1s. You can expect quite a strong impact on our turnover and profits," said McLaren Chief Financial Officer Paul Buddin to Bloomberg. The business announced in November 2013 that it had sold the entire 375-car production run of the P1 sooner than it had originally planned. Since launching the MP4-12C, McLaren has made it no secret that it wants to keep its product fresh by launching a new model each year. It initially followed the 12C coupe with the 12C Spider and P1, and this year, it has the 650S, while the 12C is reportedly being phased out. Next year's introduction is expected to be the Porsche-fighting P13. P14 and P15 models, plus a more powerful 650S, are rumored to be even farther down the track. In just a few years of building production cars, McLaren has shown that it can already construct a vehicle with world-class performance. Its next step is growing the company's sales further. It hopes to move around 4,500 units annually in the next two or three years. With over a hundred grand prix wins in its history, the team is showing it's got a good shot at translating racing victory into financial success. Featured Gallery 2015 McLaren P1: First Drive View 39 Photos News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Matt Davis / AOL Earnings/Financials McLaren Performance mclaren p1 mclaren 650s mclaren p13