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Welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive’s morning news roundup bringing you the biggest automotive headlines from around the world.

The Downshift quickly recaps the news, with links to full stories for those seeking more info. Hope you had a great weekend—here’s your bulletin for Monday, June 1, 2026.

BYD has announced it will assume all financial responsibility for any crash that happens during proper use of its City Navigation autonomous driving system within one year of a vehicle’s delivery, or update to its latest “God’s Eye” software. The year-long limitation means this doesn’t solve one of the burning issues around autonomous driving, though it is a noteworthy development from China’s biggest automaker. [CleanTechnica]

There is concern that new legislation developing in the House prohibiting automakers from selling cars in the U.S. if they have “any direct or indirect equity interest by a foreign-adversary government” could ban Mercedes-Benz from the market. Chinese firms BAIC and Geely own a combined 19.67% of the company, and, as understood, the bill sets the threshold for “control” by a “foreign adversary” at 15% ownership. [CNBC]

7⃣ The next-generation BMW X7 will have a more wagon-like profile, differentiating it from BMW’s typical SUVs as well as its competitors, according to retailers briefed on the new model. [Automotive News]

There could be as few as 800 examples of the manual BMW M3 CS Handschalter earmarked for the U.S. market, with BMW M Certified dealers receiving two cars and non-M dealers only one, according to a BMWBlog report. Additionally, markups supposedly range from a few grand to $25,000. [BMWBlog]

There’s a class-action lawsuit brewing for owners of 2023-2025 Kia Tellurides in New York and Pennsylvania alleging that Kia was aware that the SUV’s 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster could fail. [Car Complaints]

Genesis’ Le Mans Hypercars will wear new orange liveries for their 24 Hours of Le Mans debut later this month. [Racer]

Weekend Race Results:

• WRC Rally Japan: Elfyn Evans won for Toyota
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Nashville: Layne Riggs won for Front Row Motorsports
• NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Nashville: Justin Allgaier won for JR Motorsports
• MotoGP Italian Grand Prix: Marco Bezzecchi won for Aprilia
• IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix: Alex Palou won for Chip Ganassi Racing
• IMSA Detroit Grand Prix: Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber won for Cadillac
• NASCAR Cup Series at Nashville: Denny Hamlin won for Joe Gibbs Racing

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Mercedes-AMG drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli started 1-2 in Saturday’s Sprint race ahead of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, but it only took about five laps for the young Italian to try and strike for the lead. And when he did, he did not hold back.

Both Mercedes sped down the back straight, but Antonelli pulled out for a pass as they approached the chicane and final corner of the circuit. Despite being perfectly alongside the Brit, he couldn’t make the pass happen and focused on trying again in Turn 1. Antonelli went for it on the outside, but Russell closed the door pretty early and forced Antonelli off the track. It was an ambitious pass that was never going to happen, and frankly, Antonelli should’ve saved it for later—it’s not like he was running out of time.

The Mercedes briefly touched, and Antonelli was forced to rejoin the track with cold tires, but surprisingly, didn’t lose much ground to his teammate. The 19-year-old tried again but failed once more, going on the grass again and catching some air as he made his way through the bumpy terrain. By now, and due to the intra-team shenanigans, McLaren’s Lando Norris had caught up to the Silver Arrows and promptly passed the Italian, relegating him to third place.

Antonelli quickly jumped on the radio to complain about Russell’s antics, but team boss Toto Wolff promptly responded to focus on the racing rather than complaining on the radio.

“I was quite well alongside, and there was definitely contact, said Antonelli after the race. “To be fair, it [the pass] was definitely optimistic.

“I think if you are well alongside, you should be able to overtake,” he answered to Russell’s comment that an outside pass on Turn 1 is highly unlikely.

“I wasn’t Kimi any harder than I would race anyone else. I need to review [the footage] and there was nothing untoward Kimi, so that’s enough for now,” said Russell after being asked of Antonelli’s move.

Antonelli caught up to the orange McLaren by the end of lap 18, almost tapping Norris at the hairpin, though he quickly lost steam and wouldn’t get within striking distance until the last lap. He tried once more but overcooked it into Turn 1, had to cut the corner, and gave Norris back the position. Antonelli once again vented on the radio, only to hear an angry Wolff once again say they would “discuss things internally and not on the radio.”

This was always bound to happen, and frankly, it hadn’t happened simply because Russell hadn’t been able to get close enough to Antonelli as the youngster claimed victories in China, Japan, and Miami. And while this is just a Sprint—making these antics even sillier—it highlights that there is certainly lots of tension on both sides of the Mercedes garage.

It’ll be interesting to see how Wolff and team leadership handle things tonight. I can’t imagine they will allow this to happen during Sunday’s big race.

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The Mercedes-Benz CLR is remembered for all the wrong reasons. It infamously took flight, not once but three times at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, flipping end over end and soaring right over crash barriers like something produced by a broken video game physics engine. YouTuber Mike Fernie recently visited one of the surviving cars—now part of the Loh Collection in Germany—and explains its full story in a detailed video.

The CLR was the result of an evolutionary process that began with the CLK GTR and CLK LM. Those cars were built to the GT1 ruleset that defined the top class of endurance racers in the latter half of the 1990s, and mostly produced race cars masquerading as street cars. The CLR was built to LMGTP rules, which represented a tilt back toward dedicated prototype race cars and let Mercedes dispense with the road-car pretension.

Mercedes kept the CLK LM’s V8, but increased displacement from 5.0 liters to 5.7 and wrapped it in more snug bodywork. The familiar four round headlights and grille from the then-new C215 CL-Class coupe are mounted ridiculously low on the front end, and the bodywork droops down below the wheel arches. That bodywork, with long front and rear overhangs to accommodate big diffusers and run with very little rake, would turn out to be the CLR’s undoing.

The V8 was loosely based on the M119 road-car engine, which, in turbocharged form, had powered the Sauber-Mercedes C9 to victory at Le Mans a decade earlier. It made about 600 horsepower in the CLR, enough to turn this car into an airplane.

While Mercedes claimed to have conducted over 20,000 miles of testing, the three cars it brought to Le Mans had trouble on the Circuit de la Sarthe’s high-speed straights. Future F1 driver Mark Webber took off during qualifying, then again during a pre-race warmup. In his autobiography Aussie Grit, Webber says team management didn’t take his crashes seriously (they weren’t caught on film), hence why he was sent back out, and why Mercedes didn’t withdraw.

The two undamaged cars took the start, although Mercedes made some tweaks (with input from Adrian Newey) and advised its drivers not to follow other cars too closely at high speeds. That wasn’t enough to prevent Peter Dumbreck’s crash during the race itself—one of the most replayed moments in motorsports.

I Found The Flying Car Mercedes Has Hidden Since 1999

That moment was caused by a lack of balance in downforce between the front and rear ends. The low-rake setup took downforce off the front end but the fixed rear wing didn’t bring a corresponding reduction at the back. That caused the front end to pitch up on the bumpy Circuit de la Sarthe, allowing more air to get underneath and push the front end higher, while the rear wing kept pushing down on the back of the car. The wake from a car in front made things worse.

Just as no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, the cleverest ideas of engineers don’t always work in the real world. Aston Martin and Honda are getting a painful reminder of that in F1 right now, although at least the nerve-jangling AMR26 hasn’t taken flight.