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Lewis Hamilton takes pole as Mercedes speed stuns rivals

MELBOURNE, March 16 (Reuters) - Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton blazed to a record-extending eighth pole and sixth in succession at the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday to lead Valtteri Bottas to a Mercedes sweep of the front row of the grid. Hamilton struggled with a brake problem during the frenetic final session at Albert Park but edged his Finnish team mate by 0.112 seconds with a searing second lap of one minute 20.486 seconds that set a record at the lakeside circuit. The one-two punch by Mercedes left Ferrari and their championship rivals stunned, with Hamilton's chief challenger Sebastian Vettel, who qualified third, more than seven-tenths of a second off the five-times champion's pace. "Oh man, I'm shaking it was so close out there," Briton 34-year-old Hamilton said after extending his pole record to 84 on a warm, sunny afternoon in Melbourne. "Coming from winter testing, we had no idea where we would be. We were hoping to be where we are ... Valtteri did an exceptional job out there, it was very close." Hamilton matched Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher for the record number of poles at a single race track. Senna took his eight at Imola, with Schumacher dominating the Suzuka circuit. Four-times champion Vettel, bidding for a third successive win at Albert Park, was separated from his new team mate Charles Leclerc by fourth placed Max Verstappen of Red Bull. It would have felt like 'deja vu' for Ferrari, having trailed Mercedes by nearly seven-tenths of a second in qualifying at last year's race. "Certainly Mercedes are the clear favorite," Vettel told reporters with a touch of resignation. "I'm certainly surprised (by their pace), I think everybody is, probably even themselves." "I think, there is still a bit of margin (to improve) but certainly the gap is there today, and it was a surprise," the four-times champion told reporters. "We didn't expect it coming here but now it is that way. ... Obviously there is a lack somewhere, because we are too slow – but didn't feel like it." German Vettel's new team mate Charles Leclerc qualified fifth fastest behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen but the highly regarded 21-year-old was harder on himself than the car. "I'm not happy with myself. I didn't do the job in Q3, which is a shame," said the Monegasque, who locked up in turn one of a "messy" second lap.

Aston wants to build DBX on its new platform, not Mercedes'

Aston Martin is proceeding with plans to launch the DBX as its first production crossover. It just can't say at this point what it will be based on. Speaking with Automotive News Europe, Aston's new CEO Andy Palmer indicated that basing the DBX on a Mercedes SUV platform would not be its first choice because they "clearly sit in a very different space to the one we want to go" with the DBX. Instead, the company's first choice would be to build the crossover atop the new platform it's developing for its sports cars. "It just depends how high off the ground it could go," said Palmer. "I don't exclude the possibility of using some [Mercedes] parts, but I would say very much the primary route is our platform." The prospect of building an Aston SUV on Mercedes architecture – namely that of the GL-Class – has been on the table for some time now. The Lagonda SUV concept it showcased at the Geneva show in 2009 was based on the GL, and the two automakers have been forging a tightening alliance in the years since. The British automaker's next-generation engine is to be built by Mercedes-AMG, and it is expected to source other components from the German automaker as well. For its part, Mercedes has been taking a sportier approach with its latest crossovers, as demonstrated by the GLE Coupe that debuted before the more conventional version and the Concept GLC Coupe that previewed the GLK's replacement in Shanghai last month. Aston Martin, on the other hand, is building a new sports car platform that will underpin its next generation of luxury GTs, replacing the long-serving VH architecture that has served for decades as the basis for its entire model line. Perhaps the most surprising of ANE's report, though, is that Aston seems to be proceeding with plans to build the DBX apparently without even knowing what platform it will use.

Daily Driver: 2016 Mercedes-Maybach S600

Daily Driver videos are micro-reviews of vehicles in the Autoblog press fleet, featuring impressions from the staffers that drive them every day. Today's Daily Driver features the 2016 Mercedes-Maybach S600, reviewed by Adam Morath and Greg Migliore. You can watch the video above or read a transcript below. Watch more Autoblog videos at /videos. VIDEO TRANSCRIPTAdam: [00:00:03] Hi, I'm Adam Morath for Autoblog and I busted out the bowtie for today's Daily Driver because we are in a 2016 Mercedes-Maybach S600. Now, this is like the S-Class on caviar. They've taken one of the most refined vehicles in the world, dropped a V12 under the hood and added tons of content, but it's also one of the rare examples where the best place for review the car is not from the drivers' seat. I'm going to kick it back to my associate, [00:30:00] Greg Migliore to tell you a little bit more about this car.Greg: All right, well thanks, Adam. It's really great to be rolling around in Birmingham with my footmen... I mean co-worker, Adam. I'm in the back of the S600 here. This Maybach is spectacular in so many ways back here. I'm really up to my elbows, up to my waist in heated leather. Everything here is heated. It's a really, really, bespoke setting. Now, it's almost 3:00. I think, you know, happy hour is near. I could go for a drink. [00:01:00] The Maybach has you covered. Pop this right down, you're going to pull this out right here where my liquor is chilling and there is a nice faster right here in the center console where you can put your goblet down and these prongs stick out and wrap around the stem of the base, so you know, if Adam hits a bump here, hey, I'm cool, it's no problem. Now, while I'm back here, there's so many things I can do. There's a tablet in front of me. [00:01:30] There's a remote control, light very aerodynamic if there is such a thing for a remote. I'm going to tune up the radio here, put on some, I think I'll tune up the symphony hall, because that is what is appropriate in this vehicle. I can also queue up a massage if I would like. All jokes aside though. The Maybach is big business for Mercedes. They brought this name back recently because there's a different sort of value than just a standard S class and that actually allows them to capitalize [00:02:00] on a pretty lucrative market. It starts at about $190 and I can tell you for sure this is not an entry level car, so I'm sure we're looking at over $200, in that range, but you get a lot.