1985 Ferrari Mondial on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Chris Harris does road and track work in the LaFerrari

Yes, we know, we just saw Chris Harris smoking it up around Anglesey Circuit in a Porsche 911 GT3 and a Ferrari 458 Speciale, and here he is again. But this is Harris in one of the (three!) era-defining supercars, and we simply can't miss that. Harris celebrates every aspect of the Ferrari LaFerrari but one - its name - praising it for "immediate" thrust, a "very pointy" front end, and the sound at 9,000 revs. Even if you watched without words, his face tells tales, sometimes intense, sometimes agog, and at least once, with mouth agape at 9:44, looking like he's doing something other than driving a car. His final verdict is that the LaFerrari "is in a class of two," but beats all. Take 15 minutes of your day to enjoy the video and discover the LaFerrari's only competitor, as well as "a little oversteer." In slow motion, naturally.

2016 British Grand Prix kept mostly calm and carried on

Three bursts of chaos decided the course of the British Grand Prix. The first was a literal cloudburst a dozen minutes before the race, which poured water on the Silverstone Circuit while drivers sat on the grid. Six minutes before the lights-out, the race director decided to start the race behind the Safety Car. The field loped around the wet track for five laps. When the Safety Car pulled off, the three leaders – Mercedes-AMG Petronas' Lewis Hamilton, followed by teammate Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Max Verstappen – stayed out. Behind them, the second chaotic moment occurred: a big group of drivers made pit stops for intermediate tires. When Manor's Pascal Wehrlein spun at Turn 1 on Lap 7, officials issued a Virtual Safety Car. With the rest of the field slowed down, the three leaders ducked into the pits on Lap 8 for intermediates. The fortuitous timing meant all three drivers rejoined the track in their original positions. By Lap 9, with racing resumed, Hamilton had a 4.9-second lead on Rosberg. From that point, even as the track dried, no one bothered Hamilton during what one commentator called "a measured drive." The Brit won his home grand prix, taking the checkered flag seven seconds ahead of Rosberg. Rosberg had to earn second place on track. The German's car didn't respond well to the intermediate tires, so Verstappen excecuted an outstanding pass on Rosberg on the outside through Chapel on Lap 16. After everyone switched to slicks, Rosberg's Mercedes reclaimed its mojo and the German hunted Verstappen down, passing the Dutchman on Lap 38. The final touch of chaos happened when Rosberg's gearbox threw a tantrum on Lap 47 of the 52-lap race. Rosberg radioed his engineer, "Gearbox problem!" His engineer replied, "Affirm. Chassis default zero one. Avoid seventh gear, Nico." The race stewards allowed the engineer's first two statements, but stewards said the instruction about seventh gear contravened the rule that "the driver must drive the car alone and unaided." After the race, officials added ten seconds to Rosberg's time, demoting him to third behind Verstappen. Rosberg's is the first penalty arising from radio communication restrictions. Unsurprisingly, Mercedes will appeal. At this year's Baku race the radio controversy stemmed from engineers refusing to tell drivers what to do. Now we know what happens when the pit wall gets loose lips.

Ferrari-driving kid's parents charged by Indian police [w/video]

Earlier this month, we reported on a video that was circulating the internet which showed a young boy driving a Ferrari F430 on a street in India while other children watched and two adults recorded the whole thing. And that was all that we knew at the time. Now, there is more information about the car, the kids and their parents thanks to an article in the Daily Mail. As it turns out, a wealthy businessman let his son drive the Ferrari as a present for his ninth birthday and recorded the whole thing while his six-year-old son was riding shotgun.
According to the report, the father, Muhammad Nizam, faces charges and possibly the seizure of the car for letting his son get behind the wheel. Oddly enough, the video is still up on YouTube, and we have it posted for you below.