Rosso Corsa Exterior, W/ Beige Interior, Red Painted Calipers, One Owner Car! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Lewis Hamilton retakes F1 lead with 'miracle' victory in Germany

HOCKENHEIM, Germany – Lewis Hamilton raced from 14th to first to seize a "miracle" German Grand Prix victory in a Mercedes one-two on Sunday and retake the Formula One championship lead from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who crashed. Vettel, now 17 points behind the Briton after starting eight ahead, led his home race from pole position until rain caused chaos in the closing laps, with the German sliding off and into the barriers. Hamilton, the reigning world champion, took the chequered flag for a record-equalling fourth German Grand Prix win, ahead of his Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. "I've never had a race like this," said the four-times champion, who was summoned to stewards after the race for a pitlane infringement but escaped with a reprimand and the victory intact. "Today I feel like I drove the best that I can remember driving. I didn't make any mistakes." It was the 66th win of his F1 career, and Mercedes' 80th, and minutes after the finish, the skies opened with an array of thunder and lightning and a torrential downpour that would have stopped any race. "Miracles do happen, mate," Hamilton's race engineer Pete Bonnington told him over the radio after a slow-burner that turned into one of the great comebacks of the Briton's already stellar career. Hamilton, who threw himself across the pitlane wall into the arms of his mechanics and also got a bear-hug from delighted Mercedes-Benz boss Dieter Zetsche, seemed about as stunned as anyone. "I really feel that the rain has come down and just washed away any negativity and its a glorious day," Hamilton said, his voice wobbling. "It couldn't have been a better day for me and one that I will always remember." FERRARI NIGHTMARE Beaten by Vettel in his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone two weeks ago, where he went from pole to the back of the field and up to second, he had turned the tables completely. "Love conquers all," declared Hamilton, who had reacted defiantly on Instagram to the booing and hostility from a partisan crowd after his car broke down in Saturday's qualifying. "It's obviously very, very difficult from that position and highly unlikely but you've always got to believe," added the four-times champion, who said a long prayer before the race started. "I really manifested my dream today." For Vettel, it was simply a nightmare – the chance to make big gains slipping through his hands in an instant. He now has 171 points to Hamilton's 188.

Crashing a Ferrari was the best life lesson I've ever had

I screamed out a string of expletives as the gleaming Rosso Corsa-bodied F430 spun sideways through the curve, locking up the brakes, and sending the $240,000 Italian masterpiece sliding into the forest, coming to an abrupt and grinding halt, narrowly missing the tree line and avoiding my untimely death. As the proverbial dust had settled, I knew that I had been through one of the most harrowing experiences of my life and I was alive to tell the story. I knew for sure I would never live this down, not financially and definitely not socially ... or so I thought. Big mistakes often have a polarizing effect where on-one-hand we don't have a real way to know the scope of the damage and this results in fear of the unknown, but on the other hand we usually know we're okay and this results in strange internal calmness. For me this experience led to a major life lesson, an amazing story to tell, and a level of humility that served to be instrumental in all of my future endeavors. Throughout my entire childhood I had built up an obsession with Ferrari. I grew up with a poster of a yellow F355 Spyder above my bed, and like many kids I admired fast, ridiculous, and unattainable cars. Fast forward to adulthood, I found an opportunity that coincided with my love for these cars and a chance to drive one from the lauded brand as a birthday present to myself. A local exotic car rental business had a package that allowed you to test drive six exotic cars from various manufacturers, each more colorful and ostentatious than the last. I knew this was my chance to come up close and personal with the cars of my dreams. That is, until the whole experience went awry. On the day of my dream car tour, I drove myself and a friend to the New Jersey headquarters of the rental company. Greeted by nearly two dozen of the finest exotic vehicles available for purchase, doors open, the visual experience alone proved to be astounding. In addition to completing a slew of legal paperwork, we were all required to watch an introductory safety briefing, complete with photos of various past mishaps on the tour. The instructor stressed the importance of safety and actions we should take care to avoid. Our carefully planned route along the winding hills of Harriman State Park were detailed prior to departure. Each of the six drivers for that day would take their allotted turns at commanding two-Lamborghinis, two-Bentleys, one-Maserati and one-Ferrari.

Race Recap: 2015 US Grand Prix was wet, wild, and historic

Hurricane Patricia made landfall in Mexico this weekend, and made her presence known throughout the South. For two of the three days of the grand prix weekend it rained non-stop in Austin, so badly on Saturday that qualifying had to be postponed until Sunday morning, and then it only stayed dry enough to conduct the first two sessions. At the end of a tricky, slippery Q2 Nico Rosberg had put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on the front row, one tenth ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. The German had done the best he could to keep his hair-thin chances of a World Championship fight alive. Daniel Ricciardo lined his Infiniti Red Bull Racing chassis in third ahead of teammate Daniil Kvyat, both drivers having moved up a place because Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel took a ten-spot grid penalty for using a fifth engine and dropped to 13th. Continuing the two-up theme, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were fifth and sixth for Force India. After that came variety: Felipe Massa in seventh for Williams, Max Verstappen for Toro Rosso in eighth, Fernando Alonso looking good in the rain for McLaren in ninth, and Romain Grosjean for Lotus in tenth. When the lights went out, Turn 1 set the tone. Pole position is on the outside line at Circuit of the Americas, and Hamilton had got himself far enough under Rosberg by the time the two got up the hill that Rosberg had to stick to the outside through the corner. At the corner exit Hamilton used the entire track, pushing Rosberg wide, their cars touching. As Rosberg left the track and dropped back to fourth, Hamilton radioed to the team to say the contact was unintentional. The two Mercedes' and two Red Bulls animated the front. Rosberg passed Ricciardo at the end of a Virtual Safety Car period employed to let the marshals clean the debris at Turn 1. Kvyat started chasing down Hamilton until the Russian ran wide and let Rosberg and Ricciardo through, then Rosberg ran wide on the next lap to let Ricciardo through. On Lap 15, Ricciardo passed Hamilton through the esses to take the lead. After the first round of pit stops the Aussie still had the lead, followed by Rosberg, Kvyat, Hamilton, and Vettel. Then Rosberg got around to take the lead and Vettel closed in on Hamilton as the Brit duked it out with the Russian. Rosberg showed excellent speed, building up a nine-second gap on Ricciardo, but a Safety Car period erased that when Marcus Ericsson had to park his dead Sauber on the inside of the track after Turn 10.