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Valtteri Bottas on pole for Formula One's 1,000th race

Valtteri Bottas will start Formula One's 1,000th world championship race from pole position after leading Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton in a front row lockout at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel qualified third, ahead of 21-year-old Monegasque team mate Charles Leclerc who was unable to repeat his Bahrain Grand Prix pole of two weeks ago. Bottas, who won the season opener in Australia and leads defending champion Hamilton by one point in the standings, was the third different driver to take pole this season in three races. "The lap was OK, not completely how I wanted. Luckily it was good enough for pole," smiled the Finn, who pipped Hamilton by 0.023 seconds after setting a best time of one minute 31.547. "Lewis also managed to improve a lot during the qualifying and it was super-close." The pole was a first for Bottas since Russia last September and the seventh of his career. It was also his first in China where Mercedes have won five of the last seven races. Hamilton sounded happy just to be on the front row, despite six previous poles in Shanghai, after looking out of sorts in practice. "I didn't give up, I kept pushing right to the end. Big congratulations to Valtteri, he's been stellar all weekend and I've been struggling and fighting the car," said the Briton. "To be as close as we are at the end is fantastic. An incredible result for the team. There was a little bit more time left on the table there but that's cool, I'll try and get it tomorrow," added Hamilton. UNHAPPY VERSTAPPEN Ferrari had arrived in China as favorites after showing their speed in Bahrain, particularly on the straights, with Leclerc on pole and leading until a loss of engine power in the closing laps. While unable to match the quick-cornering Mercedes cars for overall pace in Shanghai, Vettel hoped to be closer on Sunday thanks to the track's main straight being more than a kilometer long. "I think there was maybe a little bit more but overall not enough to beat these guys today," said the 31-year-old German, a four times world champion. "If we get close we could have an advantage in a straight line." The top 10 positions went two-by-two in team order, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly fifth and sixth and ahead of the Renault pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg – the Australian just 0.004 ahead of the German.

Brabus-tuned Mercedes G500 4x4 is an over-powered off-roader

Even from the factory, the Mercedes-Benz G500 4x42 is an off-road bruiser that's good for 415 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque. Apparently, those already meaty figures just aren't enough for the power-hungry folks at Brabus. The company's new tuning kit for the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 pushes things up to 493 hp and a prodigious 523 lb-ft of twist. On top of the grunt, buyers can order a heap of extras to make the SUV look a whole lot meaner. They're all going on display at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. The heart of Brabus' power upgrade is its custom control module to tweak the engine management, and the result is adjusted boost pressure and the mapping for the fuel injection and ignition. There's also a stainless steel exhaust with butterflies that vary between "Sport" and an appropriately named "Coming Home" mode at the press of a button. The chrome tailpipes add an extra visual pop, too. The G500 4x42 rides on off-road tires, and even after Brabus' big boost, it's not lightning quick. The run to 62 miles per hour now takes 6.9 seconds, and the rubber also mandates a top speed limited to 130 mph. For buyers really looking to show off, Brabus has a wild body kit for the G500, too. It includes new lower bumpers and polished underbody guards. Meanwhile, the hood grows a scoop, and the headlight update adds black-tinted Xenon lights with LED turn signals to replace the units usually on the fenders. Inside, a mix of quilted leather, Alcantara and bright red stitches finishes off the brash tweaks. World premiere at the IAA 2015 BRABUS refines the Mercedes G 500 4x42 368 kW / 500 HP, 710 Nm of torque and exclusive BRABUS luxury appointments for the extreme off-roader Mercedes G 500 4x42: the new special model of the G-Class is designed for maximum off-road capabilities and offers the perfect basis for exclusive refinement a la BRABUS (Brabus-Allee, D-46240 Bottrop, phone +49 / (0) 2041 / 777-0, fax +49 / (0) 2041 / 777 111, Internet www.brabus.com). This includes an increase in the power output of the twin-turbo V8 to 368 kW / 500 HP (493 bhp) and a boost in its peak torque to 710 Nm (523 lb-ft). As a result, the tuned off-roader sprints from rest to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 6.9 seconds. Due to the all-out off-road tires, the top speed is limited electronically to 210 km/h (130 mph). The spectacular appearance of the all-wheel-drive car is bolstered further by a high-end BRABUS paint finish and targeted BRABUS bodywork modifications.

Here's what Jay Leno will be working on in 2016

Jay Leno always has a project or five underway in his garage, and since 2015 is practically over, his latest video offers a glimpse at some of the amazing vehicles we might see his team complete in the coming year. Leno's crew certainly has a lot to do next year. Leno's most impressive current undertaking is an effort to modernize a 1914 Detroit Electric with about ten times its original power output. He showed off the vintage EV as just a shell in his last tour of the garage, but his team has now recreated the wood body. They also started the project's bigger challenge of installing a new electric motor and lithium-ion batteries from a Nissan Leaf. If EVs don't interest you, Leno has plenty of other irons in the fire, too. There's a 1971 Porsche 911 that's under restoration to turn it into a solid driver and several motorcycles in various states of repair. Leno even welcomes viewers into his dyno room to check out the work on the Chrysler V8 for his Cunningham. The results of this wrenching and welding on these projects should make for even more compelling videos in 2016.