Lewis Hamilton 4th, Jenson Button 7th

“The team made a phenomenal effort to get all the new parts to the track for this race, and everybody has done a fantastic job at the track all weekend. We were very quick in practice, so I don’t know where the Red Bulls found an extra half a second in Q3. “Still, it’s important to remember that we’re still in the fight: we make good starts, and there are some long straights here, which should suit us. I feel that we’re competitive - the car is the best it’s ever been and our long runs are strong. “Yesterday and this morning I was very happy with the car; the balance was extremely good and we were looking strong. This afternoon I couldn’t get the tyres up to temperature and struggled a bit with locking fronts and rears. “I didn’t have enough grip and couldn’t find enough pace. It’s going to be a bit tough tomorrow, whatever the weather does.

“But the good news is that I’ll be starting from the clean side of the grid, and there are a couple of long straights after the first corner, so it’ll be a fun first lap! “The conditions in qualifying today were pretty challenging - low-grip Tarmac combined with low-ish track temperatures - and as a result it was difficult to get the tyres up to optimal operating temperature fast enough. Both our drivers drove sensibly and well to get safely through to Q3 - and, once there, we elected to give them each two single-lap runs. “They both drove very good laps - but as things turned out it wasn’t easy to nail a time on a single lap. However, we’re very positive about tomorrow’s race. We’ve got a very good race car, with strong straight-line speed, and as a result both Jenson and Lewis will be able to drive attacking races.

If the driver brakes using the brake pedal, the electric motor initially begins to convert the vehicle's kinetic energy into electrical energy. In this case the electric motor acts as a generator, storing the kinetic energy as electrical energy in the lithium-ion battery. This process feels like a stronger engine braking effect to the driver. The conventional disc brakes at the wheels are not yet employed, saving wear and tear. The disc brakes are only activated if the driver applies heavy pressure to the brake pedal, braking the car together with the engine brake and recuperation. Once the driver selects "R" (reverse) in the 7G-TRONIC automatic transmission when manoeuvring, this automatically activates the Manoeuvring mode and prevents the start/stop function from switching off the engine at short, frequent intervals. The advantages of the hybrid drive system really come into their own in city traffic, with frequent stops at red traffic lights. Already switching off the petrol engine as the car frequently coasts to a stop significantly lowers the fuel consumption and emissions, while the long recuperation phases increase the battery charge. The electric motor ensures particularly comfortable and rapid restarting when the start/stop function is active. On rural roadsthere are frequent changes between boost, constant speed and recuperation phases. Depending on the nature of the route, large quantities of recuperation energy are available to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. The more braking and acceleration phases there are, the better: uphill and downhill gradients, as well as winding, dynamic stretches, make for the largest savings. The Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHYBRID is produced at the Sindelfingenplant, together with the other S-Class models. The petrol engine, 7G-TRONIC automatic transmission and electric motor are first put together to form a hybrid module, then delivered to the production line as a unit.

We only bought it because Volkswagen doesn't sell the 1.6L Bluemotion Golf in the United States. The one that does 50 mpg. A gas-frugal car offers perks, other than the savings at the pump: With normal use, I visit the gas station once a month. So I'm in a good position to weather fuel shortages like the one leading to long lines when superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast, or when refineries or pipelines go offline as they did in California earlier this year. The good news: the choice of gas sippers is getting broader even in the US, as carmakers are adjusting their offerings to comply with tightened CAFE emissions standards for new cars. Even though generally they still reserve their best and most advanced gas sippers for the European market. Finally: even if you trimmed down your personal carbon footprint to Sub-Saharan levels, a US resident still retains a large systemic carbon footprint. An MIT study has found that a homeless person in the US (no home, no car, extremely few possessions) has a carbon footprint of 8.5 tonnes CO2 per year, more than twice the planetary average. This comes from public services such as roads, education and defense, items that are not included in the bar graph above from the Berkeley study, which covers private household carbon emissions. The US military, which is as big as the next ten largest national defense departments combined, consumes unbelievable amounts of energy.