Watch Red Bull’s F1 Car Do Some Donuts on Top of the Burj Al Arab Hotel

You’re probably aware by now that the FIA doesn’t want championship-winning drivers to show their emotion and thrill spectators. Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel found that out last weekend, when they were slapped with an absurd fine.

Red Bull’s marketing machine didn’t let than event slip unnoticed and decided to show its disapproval by staging a memorable event.

The energy-drink giant took one of its Formula 1 cars and driver David Coulthard to Dubai in order to celebrate winning the 2013 Formula One Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships.

The car was lifted on Burj Al Arab’s helipad, located on the top of the seven star hotel at 210 meters (689 ft) above the sea. David Coulthard’s job was a typical Red Bull adventure: to do some donuts with the 750hp F1 car on the 24-meter wide helipad. You can check out the amazing footage after the break.

By Dan Mihalascu

VIDEO

Sebastian Vettel Wins 4th F1 Title, Gets Fined €25,000 for Donut Celebrations…

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was crowned Formula 1 World Champion for the fourth consecutive year on Sunday, after winning the Indian Grand Prix. The German has now the same number of titles as Alain Prost and has only two other great drivers to beat: Juan Manuel Fangio (5 titles) and Michael Schumacher (7 titles). The 26-year-old driver is the youngest double, triple and now quadruple world champion.

Although he started the race on pole-position, Vettel quickly dropped to 17th place following an early pitstop to change tires. The German then started to work his way up and by lap 21, he was second, behind Red Bull teammate Mark Webber. On lap 33, Vettel raced in front again and kept the position until the end of the race.

Naturally, after he crossed the finish line he wanted to celebrate so he made some donuts on the front straight during the celebration lap. One would think he would get away with that, even in a politically-correct sport like Formula 1; well, he didn’t.

FIA regulations stipulate that the winning car must go straight to “parc ferme” after the race, and Vettel broke that rule as he stopped the car on the grid after doing the donuts, got out of it and threw his gloves into the grandstand.

The idea behind the rule is to prevent interference with the car - which obviously didn't happen. Nevertheless, FIA officials quickly reached Vettel’s car to “neutralise” it, and Vettel with his team manager were called up by the stewards. They decided to reprimand Vettel and fine the team €25,000 ($34,470).

You can watch Vettel's hoon-style celebration in the video below.

By Dan Mihalascu

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Daimler Selling Warhol’s Painting of Mercedes W196 F1 Car, Could Fetch up to $16 Million!

Earlier this year, Juan Manuel Fangio’s former Mercedes Formula 1 car became the most expensive car sold at an auction, fetching $29,650,095 (€21,474,674) at the Goodwood Festival of Speed sale. I only reminded you of that to put into context the price of another work of art - this time literally.

A representation of the streamlined version of the Mercedes W196 R F1 car painted on canvas by famous American artist Andy Warhol will be auctioned for half the price of Fangio's car!

Warhol’s work, titled “Mercedes-Benz W196 R Grand Prix Car (Streamlined Version, 1954)”, will be offered at a Christie’s auction in New York on November 12, 2013, and is estimated to sell for $12 million (€8.68 million) to $16 million (€11.6 million). The painting is owned by the Daimler Art Collection.

Warhol’s work is made using synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas and is quite big in size: 160.5x180 inches (4,076x4,575mm). A leading figure of the pop art movement, Warhol finished the painting in 1987, the year of his death. At the time, he was working on a series of paintings commissioned by Mercedes-Benz to celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary.

Mercedes wanted Warhol to create 80 artworks inspired by 20 Mercedes models, but the artist’s sudden death in 1987 left the project unfinished. Warhol only made 35 silkscreen prints and 12 drawings of eight Mercedes models. Among the finished works is the one featuring the streamlined version of the 1954 Mercedes W196 R Formula 1 car.

In a similar way to his famous Marilyn Monroe painting, Warhol printed a single model of the W196 several times on one canvas and used different hues for each car that appears on the painting.

By Dan Mihalascu

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Honda's New 2015 F1 V6 Engine Sounds Like My Milkshake Blender…

In fact, to be frank, everyone I asked said my milkshake blender sounds better than Hondas, better than Hondas (…that's a reference to Kelis' Milkshake song for the uninitiated).

And yes, this author is clearly quite disappointed (and that's probably an understatement) with the sounds recorded from Honda's newly developed 1.6-liter V6 racing engine crafted for use by McLaren in the 2015 Formula 1 season.

"Today Honda has released a recording of its new F1 engine, which was recently fired for the first time," the Japanese automaker said in a short statement that accompanied the video. "The engine is being developed for the 2015 season where Honda will participate under a joint project with McLaren."

Unlike us, Manabu Nishimae, President of Honda Motor Europe, was thrilled with the first sounds of his company's creation: “It is exciting to hear the cry of our new born Formula One engine for the first time," he said. "Our engineers are working hard to develop the engine and we are all looking forward to the start of the 2015 season.”

Hopefully, they can also work on making it sound less like a kitchen appliance…

VIDEO

Care for a 1992 Lamborghini Minardi F1 Race Car? It’s Up for Sale

Taking a 1992 F1 racer to compete with today's crop of F1 models is something like having a middle-aged man run a sprint against a high school senior, but getting into one of these cars for your own satisfaction, is a completely different story, and it's one that can come true – if you have a lot of cash to spare, that is.

To be precise, the "Buy it Now" price of this 1992 Lamborghini Minardi F1 car that was raced by Christian Fittipaldi in the 1992 Formula One Championship, stands at $208,888 (roughly €155,000 at today's exchange rates) on eBay.

The seller states the car has been fully refurbished and is drivable, with the Mauro Foghieri-designed L3512 Lamborghini / Chrysler V12 engine putting out a "certified 700bhp and turning over at a maximum 13,800 rpm", while the car itself tips the scales at a mere "1,135 pounds" or 515 kilograms.

We're also told that it is only one of three 1992 Lamborghini Minardi F1 cars that exists in the world and that since it was retired from action, it has been "driven by Valentino Balboni [former chief test driver of Lamborghini] in demonstration events at Road Atlanta and Sebring".

Thanks to Fast Eddie for the tip!

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