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Race Recap: Belgian Grand Prix sings Waltzing Matilda

Changeable. Each commentator will use that word at least 6,072 times over the Belgian Formula One
Grand Prix weekend. It is almost always applied to the weather, because the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit - perhaps all of Belgium - resides in some sort of climatological Narnia, its ADD skies totally unable to settle on a reliable behavior.
A dry Friday turned into a thoroughly wet qualifying on Saturday. When Q3 had done, Nico Rosberg would line up on pole position for the fourth race in a row for Mercedes AMG Petronas, after teammate Lewis Hamilton had another brake problem, this time glazing on one of the discs. Infiniti Red Bull Racing engineered a low-downforce setup and Sebastian Vettel took the best advantage, lining up third and making us wonder if the magic was back. Fernando Alonso drove the first Ferrari to fourth, the Spaniard saying he thought a podium was possible. Daniel Ricciardo put the second Infiniti Red Bull Racing in fifth, Valtteri Bottas behind him in the first Williams, then Kimi Räikkönen in the second Ferrari, Felipe Massa in the second Williams and Jenson Button in the sole McLaren in the top ten.

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."

Ferrari 458 Speciale already sold out for first year

Ferrari tends to sell its models out extremely quickly - its wait lists are the stuff of legend. That's especially true when the cars in question are of the fastest or most exclusive variety. If new reports are to be believed, Maranello has already sold the entire 499-unit production run of its new LaFerrari hypercar, and now Australia's Motoring is claiming that Ferrari has also filled its order book for the entire first year's production run of its new 458 Speciale.
For those unfamiliar, the 458 Speciale follows in a proud line of hardcore mid-engined V8 Ferraris in the footsteps of the 360 Challenge Stradale and 430 Scuderia. It's lighter, more powerful and more aerodynamically advanced than the 458 Italia upon which it's based, and just trails half a second behind the more powerful F12 Berlinetta (and the aforementioned LaFerrari) as the third-quickest road car ever to lap the Italian automaker's Fiorano test track. That means it's quicker even than the 599 GTO and Enzo.
Although we've yet to receive official word, we're expecting a sticker price approaching $300,000 - about a quarter more than the 458 Italia. But that doesn't appear to have stopped Ferrari from raking in the orders. Check it out in our substantially updated image gallery above.