Formula One Track Limits in Mexico

From Road & Track

Welcome to The Grid, R&T's quick roundup of the auto industry and motorsports news you should know this morning.

A Lotus Crossover?

Just the other day, we saw an interview from Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales that talked about a change in plans for the next generation Elise. With the influx of money from new owners Geely, the company is free to think bigger about its future products.

But it also needs to make money, which means that Lotus is planning an SUV, like the Porsche Macan. And these patent drawings may give us our first glimpse of the model. It looks a but like an Exige and Jaguar E-Pace merged into one crossover, and we don't hate it. Of course, we don't love the idea of a Lotus crossover, but if it keeps the lights on and gets us more amazing cars, we'll accept it. Begrudgingly.

Not a COTA Repeat

Last week's USGP at COTA was memorable for a couple of reasons, but mainly because of Max Verstappen's epic pass on Kimi Raikkonen on the last lap, along with the subsequent penalty for exceeding track limits. The FIA doesn't want a repeat of that this week at the Mexico Grand Prix, so they've gone to radical measures.

Last year during this race, Lewis Hamilton went off track and rejoined in first, still ahead of Nico Rosberg, but was determined to not have gained an advantage. This year, if you go off track, you are definitely not gaining an advantage. Drivers will have to go around sets of speedbumps designed to either slow the cars way down or break them. The bumps have also been placed around corner exit (as seen in the tweet above). That should make sure there's no repeat of last week.

Alonso Loves America

If you're tired of hearing about Fernando Alonso racing in the US, skip this. The Spaniard will be making his sports car racing debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona in one of Zak Brown's United Autosports P2 cars. And the good thing is that Alonso is open to doing more in America.

When asked about a future racing in the US, this is what Alonso told Racer:

Long-term, it's still open and my experience in the Indy 500 showed me how much fun I had in American racing, how much love I had from fans, and it's something I may consider in the future.

Sounds positive to see Fernando racing on our side of the pond more often. Which is great, because he's spectacular to watch.

Audi Sees Electric Opportunity

Audi is having a pretty good year, with sales of about 161,000 vehicles in the US so far in 2017. That's 5.7 percent up on 2016. But the company sees further growth.

With scores of electric cars on the way, the German luxury brand sees the expansion as a huge opportunity. Audi USA CEO Scott Keogh says that the brand should have 15 to 20 electrified vehicles by 2025, with 30 percent of the brands sales coming from electrics and hybrids around that time. They think these will attract a younger buyer. We'll have to wait and see.

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