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2016 Japanese Grand Prix | Hamilton faces the beginning of the end

We're told the Japanese mamushi viper haunts the undergrowth around Suzuka. If the pit viper attended the weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, it avoided human visitors but it put a nasty bite on Lewis Hamilton's championship hopes. The Briton, lined up second on the grid next to Mercedes-AMG Petronas teammate Nico Rosberg, flubbed his start. By the end of Turn 1 Hamilton was in eighth. Hamilton didn't suffer alone. The beginning of the race was a melee; many of the leaders got caught out either by the damp track or by having to swerve around slow starters. Only Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Max Verstappen took off clean. The German rolled up another lights-to-flag victory despite the pass-happy race happening behind him. Rosberg was as unbothered by the Dutchman in second place as he was by the official Formula 1 camera feed. Verstappen didn't have much work to do until the final ten laps of the race. Thanks to the Mercedes team's strategy – or Ferrari waiting too long to pit – Hamilton got up to third on Lap 36 of 53. Unable to make a DRS-enabled pass on Verstappen down the front straight toward the end of the race, the Mercedes driver took a creative line through Spoon corner. Closing in down the back straight, Hamilton jinked inside to try a pass through the final chicane. Verstappen moved over in the braking zone while Hamilton was still behind him, closing the door on the move. Hamilton protested over his team radio, but seemed resigned to a third place finish after the incident – he didn't try any more passes in the final laps. The Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line fourth and fifth, respectively, in recovery drives after penalties. The scuderia tried an aggressive final stint after Hamilton successfully undercut Vettel in the pits. Ferrari put Vettel on the soft-compound Pirellis so he could hunt the Mercedes, but after a few laps of close pursuit the tires gave up and Vettel fell back. Daniel Ricciardo couldn't get comfortable in his Red Bull the entire weekend. The Aussie finished where he started, in sixth place. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg followed the Red Bull home in two-up formation for Force India, Williams doing the same in the final two points-paying positions with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Rosberg's 23rd career victory – his ninth of the season and first ever in Japan – puts him 33 points ahead of Hamilton in the Driver's Championship with four races left.

Classic Ferrari locked away for decades inside Hollywood apartment

Finding a classic Ferrari or a Porsche locked away for decades inside a dusty barn is a story that, while not exactly common, is not unheard of. Finding a Ferrari parked inside a one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood, California, is a totally different matter. That's exactly where the new owner of this Ferrari 250 GT PF Coupe found his new project. Petrolicious has the full story on how this half-restored car ended up locked away inside this unlikely tomb for the past 30 or so years. Needless to say, it wasn't easy getting a car inside an apartment that only has a single, standard-looking door. Despite sitting on jack stands with no engine, no wheels, and non-functional brakes, the car is in surprisingly good condition. The new owner is currently in the process of having the car restored to near original condition. Head over to Petrolicious for the full story and a wonderful set of photos. Related Video:

2019 Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti Ferrari is only for people racing Ferraris

Ferrari revealed an interesting special edition car, the 2019 Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti Ferrari. Part of what makes it interesting is that it doesn't matter how much money you have, you probably can't get it. That's because this version was created to celebrate Ferrari's motorsports teams and the car that won its class in the 2017 World Endurance Championship. As such, this car is only available to people "involved in the company's motorsports programs." We're guessing it's aimed at drivers of Ferrari race cars, but we bet that managers and other members of Ferrari race teams with enough scratch could get one, too. Besides the exclusivity, Ferrari spruced up the 488 Pista Piloti Ferrari with a number of unique features. It has a special paint scheme with a center Italian flag stripe inspired by the championship winning 488. On the passenger side of the car is the WEC logo, and on the driver's side is the word "PRO" indicating the class of the winning car. On each side, the owner can choose a custom number that will also be placed on the steering wheel. In the case of the show car, it has the number 51 for the aforementioned race car. Inside, the car features black Alcantara everywhere. There are also a few Italian flag tributes. The seat backs have the Italian flag colors fading as they head to the top of the seat. The same colors are also found on the shift paddles. Red stitching also helps break up the black interior. Nothing has been changed mechanically about the Piloti Ferrari, which means it still has the 711-horsepower turbocharged V8. But we suspect that none of the customers will be complaining about it being too slow, and the exclusivity is pretty cool. Plus, we're sure plenty of these customers will at least have access to a race car if they need something more hardcore. Related Video: