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Race Recap: 2016 Austrian GP is mishaps from start to finish

At the 2015 US Formula 1 Grand Prix, rain mixed up the grid and a first-lap incident cast the die for the race. The Austin, Texas event made highlight reels for those reasons and because it decided the Driver's Championship. At the 2016 Austrian F1 Grand Prix, rain mixed up the grid and a last-lap incident cast the die for the race. The Spielbergring race will feature in this year's highlight reel because it might force Mercedes-AMG Petronas to make some hard decisions about the rest of the season. For the first time this season, Lewis Hamilton converted pole position into a lead through Turn 1, and began slowly pulling away from the field. Teammate Nico Rosberg started from sixth because of a gearbox penalty, but was up to third when he pitted on Lap 11. Mercedes normally pits the lead driver first, in this case being Hamilton, but Mercedes wanted to get Rosberg ahead of the two Ferraris. Hamilton pitted on Lap 22, emerging behind Rosberg because of a slow stop. Sebastian Vettel led the race for Ferrari on Lap 27 when his right rear tire exploded coming down the start-finish straight – an eerie reminder of the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix. The Safety Car rolled out, yet when racing resumed Rosberg stayed ahead. After the two Mercs came in for second stops everyone expected Hamilton to lead, but Hamilton had messed up his in-lap and lost a cumulative 3.3 seconds during his actual stops compared to Rosberg's pit-stop times. The Brit remained second. Hamilton chased his teammate for the final 15 laps. At the beginning of the last lap Rosberg messed up Turn 1 and Hamilton closed in. Rosberg took the inside line into Turn 2 as Hamilton pulled up on the outside, then Rosberg appeared to drive straight on as if he simply wasn't going to turn. Hamilton turned in, colliding with Rosberg and driving over the German's front wing. By the end of Turn 2, Hamilton had the lead and Rosberg had a broken car. The Brit won, the German puttered home to finish fourth. The incident promoted Max Verstappen to second and Kimi Raikkonen to third. Verstappen scored his second podium for Red Bull after his victory in Spain. Conversely, Raikkonen's third place for Ferrari was more gifted scraps for the scuderia. Daniel Ricciardo came fifth in the second Red Bull, Jenson Button delivered a terrific sixth for McLaren- Honda, Romain Grosjean got Haas back in the points, Carlos Sainz, Jr. secured eighth for Toro Rosso, and Valtteri Bottas in ninth for Williams.

Ferrari to debut new twin-turbo California in the spring

Ferrari hadn't made a turbocharged engine since the F40 ended its production cycle in 1992. But that all changed when it helped Maserati develop its new 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8. That turbo engine has so far been shoehorned into the Quattroporte, along with its 3.0-liter V6 cousin that also powers the smaller Ghibli. But soon it'll wear the Prancing Horse badge as further details emerge on the next-generation California.
Set to arrive in time for the spring (likely to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March), the new California will reportedly ditch its naturally-aspirated V8 in favor of a reworked version of the Quattroporte's twin-turbo unit, which at 523 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque is already considerably more muscular than the current California's 483 hp and 372 lb-ft.
The new California will likely be closely based on the outgoing model, but benefit from revised aluminum sheetmetal and an updated cabin with a new infotainment system - two areas in which the current model has scored low marks.

Ferrari SUV officially being considered

A new report from Bloomberg seems to confirm that Ferrari is very seriously looking at creating some type of SUV. The news outlet reports that CEO Sergio Marchionne said the sports car builder will come to a final decision on the crossover in 30 months. This of course means that actual production will be several years off, if it happens at all. He also referred to the hypothetical crossover as an "FUV," which we assume means something like Ferrari Utility Vehicle or Fast Utility Vehicle. We doubt it's something offensive, but Marchionne has been quoted as preferring to be shot than have Ferrari build an SUV. If we had to guess whether Ferrari will build an SUV, we would go with, yes. Both Car Magazine and Bloomberg have reported that the company is in the early development phase of some utility vehicle. Both sources also mention similar details such as the fact that it will be based on the all-wheel-drive GTC4 Lusso platform and that there will be a hybrid powertrain option. Adding an SUV of some sort to the Ferrari line-up could also provide an opportunity to score a healthy number of sales and grow the company. According to Bloomberg, Marchionne said any sales expansion would have to be balanced with maintaining some exclusivity. But even if Ferrari sold just 2,000 units a year, as mentioned in a previous report, that would still be a 25-percent increase over the roughly 8,000 cars Ferrari sold in 2016. That number of vehicles would also keep Ferrari close to the 10,000-vehicle-per-year target Marchionne proposed a couple of years ago. Besides the chance for growth, building a Ferrari SUV would also keep the company in direct competition with other sports car builders planning their own utilities. Aston Martin will begin producing its DBX crossover sometime in 2019 and Lamborghini will reveal its production Urus SUV in December. Related Video: Featured Gallery Ferrari GTC4Lusso T: Paris 2016 View 17 Photos News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Drew Phillips Ferrari Crossover SUV Future Vehicles Performance Sergio Marchionne