1986 Mercedes 560sl Convertible Still Fast And Beautiful on 2040-cars

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One year since accident, most of Schumacher's sponsors still on board

It's been almost exactly a year now since Michael Schumacher suffered massive head trauma in a catastrophic skiing accident in Switzerland, and while details on his recovery have remained few and far between, we're sure his progress has been anything but easy. Meanwhile his sponsors have faced a difficult decision of their own: to continue supporting him financially despite getting nothing tangible in return, or cancel their contracts and suffer the blow to their public image as a result. According to Schumacher's longtime manager Sabine Kehm in speaking to news outlets like Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport, most of the imperiled former F1 driver's personal sponsors have remained by his side. The encouraging news updates on what we reported back in August, that Mercedes-Benz and German investment firm Deutsche Vermogensberatung AG were sticking with the champ through the hard times. Other sponsors, including helmet manufacturer Schuberth and watchmaker Audemars Piguet, are also believed to still be on board. Not all of Schumi's sponsors have stuck around, though. German bottled water brand Rosbacher reportedly broke off its contract with Schumacher back in July. And more recent reports confirm that Gaydoul Group fashion labels Navyboot and Jet Set canceled their sponsorship deal earlier this month. These and other contracts made Schumacher one of the world's highest paid sports figures and the first billionaire athlete in the world. Even in retirement, he was still making more than most active F1 drivers. While we don't know just how much he's pulling in during his recovery, here's hoping that his continued sponsors can find a way to make their support worthwhile – and that the champ makes a full recovery in the near future.

Race Recap: Abu Dhabi GP is reversals, luck, leanness and last dances

We weren't sure if Alter Ego Nico Rosberg, the one who flew into Brazil and showed Mercedes AMG Petronas teammate Lewis Hamilton that he knew also knew how to grab an entire race weekend by the scruff of the neck, arrived in Abu Dhabi. In both Friday practice sessions Hamilton showed Rosberg the way. Then on Saturday, Alter Ego Rosberg took over, taking the last Free Practice session and then pole position by a whopping four-tenths of a second over Hamilton. Thanks to the gimmicky and soon-to-be-obliterated spectre of double points, if Rosberg won the race and Hamilton finished lower than second, the World Championship would remain in German hands. Behind Hamilton came the Williams duo, again, with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Felipe Massa. Daniil Kvyat did swell to put his Toro Rosso in fifth, Jenson Button was just as swell getting his McLaren into sixth. Kimi Raikkonen outqualified his Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso for the third time this year, the pair taking seventh and eighth on the grid. Kevin Magnussen lined the second McLaren up in ninth, Jean-Eric Vergne making the top ten for Toro Rosso in his last race for the team. To be clear, that was the final grid for race: Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel had both qualified in the top ten but were sent to the back of the grid when their Infiniti Red Bull Racing front wings were deemed illegal. They'd start from the pit lane, which was still ahead of Romain Grosjean in the Lotus, who took so many penalties for new engine components that he started the race in Turkey. At lights-out on Sunday, well, it was pretty much lights out. That's when Hamilton got the start of the year, bolting off the line so quickly it didn't take him 100 meters to get in front of Rosberg. The Brit took Turn 1 in the lead, then laid more than a second into the German on the first lap. Rosberg kept close, about 2.5 seconds back, but it was Hamilton's race to lose and everyone knew it; barring a reliability issue or the kind of driving mistake Hamilton hasn't made all year, Britain would have its fourth double world champion. Rosberg was left asking his engineer what kind of strategy they might use to claim first place. That reliability issue did come, but it struck Rosberg on Lap 26 when his entire Energy Recovery System failed, robbing him of 160 horsepower and taxing his brakes.

Mercedes shows off more of the S-Class Cabriolet

Mercedes has been very much into teasing lately, providing various kinds of peeks at the recently revealed Mercedes-AMG C63, the coming 2017 E-Class sedan, and the S-Class Cabriolet. We've seen the least of that latter car but it could be the one we know the most about. The sixth member of the S-Class family after the standard sedan, the long-wheelbase sedan, the Maybach models, the Pullman, and the coupes, this one puts a fabric top on that two-door model and then lets owners take it off. After the sketched rendering from two weeks ago, this latest photo from Mercedes shows us pretty much what we're going to get, and since we're huge fans of the coupe it looks like we'll be huge fans of this, too. It will certainly come heaped with techno gizmos like heated armrests, and a set of Burmester speakers in the tonneau cover. In case you're wondering, those screen-looking things behind the front seat headrests are fans for the Airscarf neck warming system. The press release below has a bit on the history and demise of four-seater Mercedes droptops, which helps remind us why we should care about the trim being resurrected 45 years later. Related Video: The new S-Class Cabriolet: A star returns Stuttgart, Aug 25, 2015 - Coveted dream car of the 1960s meets star of the 2015 International Motor Show in Frankfurt: the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet is following in the tradition of the open-top S-Class (model series 111 and 112) from the period 1961 to 1971. Unmistakeable, exclusive design, fine materials with maximum high-class appeal in the interior and state-of-the-art technology in the S-Class characterise the concept behind both cabriolets. "After 44 years we can again offer friends of our company an open variant of the S-Class. The new S-Class Cabriolet symbolises our passion for individual and timelessly exclusive mobility, which we share with our customers", remarks Ola Kallenius, Board Member of Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz Cars Sales. With the new S-Class Cabriolet Mercedes-Benz is setting itself the standard of building the most comfortable cabriolet in the world. When it comes to climate comfort the enhanced automatic wind protection system AIRCAP, the AIRSCARF neck-level heating system, the heated armrests, the seat heating also in the rear plus the intelligent fully automatic climate control ensure that this is indeed the case.