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Race Recap: 2013 Italian Grand Prix is mistakes, gremlins and metronomes [spoilers]

The low-downforce, 5.793-kilometer circuit in Monza, Italy is known as the Temple of Speed, but only a few of the qualifying performances would have clued you into it. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing chassis' lined up first and second, and it didn't seem like Vettel had to work too hard to do so. Nico Hülkenberg truly lived up to his nickname, The Hulk, and put his Sauber third on the grid, a massive drive and turn-of-speed that even he didn't expect, especially with his teammate Esteban Gutiérrez down in 13th.
The rest of the top ten was what you might expect. Shenanigans at Ferrari ended up with Felipe Massa out-qualifying Fernando Alonso for fourth and fifth, a situation that led to Alonso calling his team either "stupid" or "genius," depending on how you translate his Italian, his sarcasm and his honesty. They were followed by Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas, the soon-to-be Infiniti Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso, the McLaren duo of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button and the second Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne.
Why wasn't Kimi Räikkönen at Lotus in that group? Because his car only had the pace to make 11th on the grid, so he said. And behind him, Lewis Hamilton - who "drove like an idiot," in his words - in the second Mercedes.

Xcar weighs in on the five best-sounding modern cars

Getting behind the wheel of a well-balanced vehicle can be a wonderfully visceral experience, thanks to the combined feeling of things like the weight of the steering, the bite of the brakes, and, of course, the roar of the engine. Unfortunately, many of the sensations of driving require actually being in the driver's seat to understand them, but thankfully the intoxicating noise of a beautifully tuned internal combustion engine can be shared with everyone. In a new video, Xcar shares their opinion on the five best-sounding modern performance cars. The list is a symphony of horsepower. As opposed to keeping all of the vehicles brand new, Xcar actually picks a few that are recently off the market. They're all definitely champs, though. While the list itself is well stocked, you might be able to argue with the specific order, and it would be nice to hear a few participants from outside of Europe for a collection like this one, too. No matter. Every listener is sure to find something they like in the bunch, though. Turn up the volume and enjoy.

Ferrari renews partnership with Marlboro [UPDATE]

Formula One and Big Tobacco may have parted ways years ago, but the alliance between Ferrari and Marlboro continues on, apparently as strong as ever. Though neither party has made any official announcement or revealed any details of the arrangement, reports from the motorsport press indicate that the Scuderia and Philip Morris – the tobacco company which owns the Marlboro brand – have signed an extension of their longstanding partnership. Marlboro first arrived in Maranello way back in 1973, ramping up over the years to become its main sponsor by '93. The Italian outfit changed its name to Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro after the tobacco brand parted company with McLaren in '97. After tobacco advertising was ultimately banned in 2006 (at least in Europe), Ferrari was forced to remove the Marlboro branding from its cars, but the name stuck – and so did the logo, in various forms of obscurity and subliminality through 2010. The Marlboro name was dropped from the team's handle in 2011, but that didn't stop the two from renewing their partnership. And now they've reportedly extended again through 2018. Though the deal hardly comes as a surprise (even given the complete lack of discernible public association between the two), we don't doubt that Maurizio Arrivabene – the former Marlboro exec who recently took over the struggling team – had something to do with it. UPDATE: A spokesman for Scuderia Ferrari downplayed the significance of the story, telling Autoblog by correspondence that "the contract is extended through 2018 and details are confidential." UPDATE 2: Philip Morris International responded to our inquiry with the following statement: "Our agreement with Ferrari has been extended beyond 2015, but we are not in a position to provide financial or other details. This partnership provides us with opportunities such as enabling our adult consumers and business partners to experience motor racing through Ferrari factory visits and attending F1 races."