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McLaren Racing will return to Mercedes F1 engines from 2021

SOCHI, Russia — McLaren will be reunited with Mercedes engines from the 2021 season as the former champions go back to using the German manufacturer's power units in their bid to return to the top. The Woking-based team are currently supplied by Renault, having joined forces with the French company last year. They will see out that deal, which runs until the end of 2020, before making the switch back to Mercedes as part of a long-term agreement until at least 2024. "We are delighted to welcome McLaren back to the Mercedes-Benz racing family with this new power unit supply agreement," said Mercedes' motorsports head Toto Wolff in a joint statement with McLaren issued at the Russian Grand Prix on Saturday. "We hope that this new long-term agreement marks another milestone for McLaren as they aim to take the fight to the sport's top teams, including our Mercedes works team." The McLaren-Mercedes partnership initially ran from 1995 to the end of 2014. It turned McLaren, enduring a slump after their heady days of dominance during the late 1980s and early 90s with Honda, into a force to be reckoned with once again. The combination won 78 races, a constructors' title and three drivers' titles with Mika Hakkinen (1998, 1999) and Lewis Hamilton who raced to his first Formula One title with the team in 2008. McLaren find themselves in a similar phase now, rebuilding after three dismal years with Honda, the Japanese manufacturer they rejoined forces with at the end of 2014 in a bid to recreate their dominance from 30 years ago. Fielding a fresh driver line up of British rookie Lando Norris and Spaniard Carlos Sainz, they have made big strides this year and are currently locked in a battle for fourth in the overall standings with Renault's works team. But they haven't won a race since the season-ending 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, when they were still powered by Mercedes. "Renault has been instrumental to our Formula One recovery plan and a fantastic partner to McLaren Racing," said Zak Brown, chief executive of McLaren Racing. "This agreement is an important step in our long-term plan to return to success in Formula One." McLaren's new deal with the German manufacturer, whose power units have set the benchmark in Formula One's turbo-hybrid era, coincides with a planned rules overhaul aimed at leveling the playing field and creating better racing. The shake-up could be just what a team like McLaren need to make that final jump up to the top.

2019 BMW M850i xDrive: How it compares on paper with other GT coupes

Although the hot new vehicles for the rich seem to mainly comprise SUVs and supercars, the neglected luxury GT coupe segment is starting to see some life again. The latest to add a spark to this set is the 2019 BMW M850i xDrive. It goes on sale later this year, and revives the 8 Series that's been dead since the 1990s. The first version available to Americans will be one with a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8, with other versions likely following. Before it launches, we wanted to get a lay of the grand-touring land and see how the new BMW stacks up to the competition in performance, practicality and price. While some of these models have higher-performance or more-affordable iterations, we picked the versions that would be the closest match to this 8 Series model. They include the 2019 Lexus LC 500, 2018 Mercedes-Benz SL 550, 2018 Mercedes-Benz S 560 Coupe and the 2018 Maserati GranTurismo. We will also provide some short summaries on our experiences with these cars, but to get a full picture of each model, be sure to check out their full reviews. And if you want to compare any of these cars with models you don't see here, be sure to try out our car comparison tool. Engines, transmissions and performance On paper, the BMW M850i xDrive is clearly the performer of the group. It has the most power and torque at 523 horsepower and 553 pound-feet. Coupled with all-wheel-drive and an eight-speed automatic, the car is able to overcome its relatively portly 4,478-pound curb weight to hit 60 mph in a scant 3.6 seconds. That's more than half a second quicker than the lightest car in the group, the Mercedes-Benz SL550, which weighs 4,012 pounds. The other three vehicles are in the low- to mid-4-second range to 60 mph. Though the Maserati is the slowest to 60 mph, it does boast the highest top speed of 186 mph. The M850i and SL 550 are electronically limited to 155 mph, while the Lexus is limited to 168 mph. The Mercedes S 560 has the lowest top speed at an electronically limited 130 mph. View 52 Photos Of interest is that there's a 50/50 split among these cars between using a pair of turbos, and having none at all. The BMW and Mercedes resort to forced induction, whereas the Lexus and Maserati choose to stay naturally aspirated. This is likely why the Germans break 500 pound-feet of torque, while the others don't make it to 400. Also interesting is the spread of gear quantity. The Maserati has just six ratios to choose from, and the Lexus has a whopping 10.

Mercedes-Petronas AMG W04 launched to little fanfare, lots of pressure [w/video]

No indoor cocktail hour for the launch of the W04, the newest chassis built by the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team. Instead, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton spent a morning in photo and video sessions at the track in Jerez, Spain then paused a moment to introduce the car. The team will want the W04 to demonstrate the World Championship credentials of the team personnel and one of the team drivers, instead of the mostly humble performances we've seen over the past three years.
The W04 has been fitted with a new five-element front wing, pushrod front and pull-rod rear suspension, a second-generation Coanda exhaust and an "aggressively packaged" rear end. A small vanity panel, à la Infiniti Red Bull's RB9, covers the stepped nose.
Team principal Ross Brawn has called it "a clear step forward in design and detail sophistication," but as much as we truly respect Brawn's abilities and achievements, we heard him say similar things about the updated W03 last year before almost every race weekend from about mid-season. We really hope he's right this time, and so does the team's newest driver, Lewis Hamilton. We'll do our best to ignore the parallels of the Mercedes F1 team having signed a sponsorship deal with Blackberry, another company trying to find its way back to the top and still struggling, and just point you to the video below of the W04 in action.