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2015 Brazilian Grand Prix is the same as it ever was

At this point, we hope Nico Rosberg is planning to carry his current qualifying form into the 2016 season and back it up with the same kind of race-day cojones he showed winning the race in Mexico City two weeks ago. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver got it right enough again on Saturday afternoon to take his fifth consecutive pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton by almost a tenth of a second. It's the same one-two from Brazil last year. The bad news for the rest of the field is that the winner in Brazil the last seven years has been one of the two drivers on the front row. Last year it was the Williams duo that lined up behind Mercedes, this year it's Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel plays the stalking horse, securing third in his Ferrari ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen in fourth. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas actually qualified in fourth, but he had to serve a three-spot grid penalty for passing under red flags in Free Practice 2, so he started sixth. That promoted Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg up to fifth. Daniil Kvyat was the quickest representative from Infiniti Red Bull Racing, getting into seventh even with a Renault power unit that's weak on some of the key stretches at the Interlagos track. Felipe Massa had the second Williams in eighth, in front of the second Red Bull driven by Daniel Ricciardo in ninth. Toro Rosso hasn't confirmed its drivers for next year but Max Verstappen keeps making it hard to look elsewhere, taking 10th. Rosberg is working nearly the same trick he pulled last year: drive like a second driver for most of the year, drive like a world champion for the last quarter of a season. He pulled away at the start and covered Hamilton just enough on the run to the first corner to keep Hamilton on the outside. By the end of Turn 1 the German had the lead and didn't give it up for the rest of the race outside of pit stops. Without overwhelming pace to pass and unable to follow closely, Hamilton could do nothing except ask his team for a different strategy to go for the win. When Mercedes told him "No," trying to protect Rosberg's second place in the championship ahead of Vettel, that was the race. Just like last year, Rosberg and Hamilton finished one-two. Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, and Kvyat drove lonely races to finish in positions three through seven.

'Sensual but also logical': Ferrari's Flavio Manzoni opines on design at London exhibit

Ferrari design boss Flavio Manzoni was in London this week for the opening of a five-month exhibition on the famous Italian brand, part of its 70th-anniversary celebrations, at the world-famous Design Museum. So Autoblog jumped at the chance to ask the man behind the La Ferrari, FXX, 488 GTB and more about his design approach and inspirations, and also what he thinks about designing a Ferrari SUV, or even an EV. Manzoni, 52, is pleasingly Italian in manner and accented English. Passionate and forthright, he has strong views on what makes good design in general and for Ferrari in particular. Having increased the importance of the brand's Styling Centre considerably since becoming head of design in 2010, the now 80-strong team increasingly creates new vehicles in-house (as opposed to using former independent design company Pininfarina). The first project Manzoni fully oversaw within Ferrari was the La Ferrari. He's a firm believer in form following function, "but not in a German way," he says with a smile, citing the side of the 488 GTB, which is shaped by the need to divert air in a certain way around the car and also to look fantastic. As he declares: "You'd never find lines on a Ferrari just for decoration. The scoop on the 488 GTB is sensual but also logical." As another example, he says that his "latest baby," the track-focused FXX K Evo, took a different path from the very engineering-focused Enzo of 2002, designed well before he joined the company. "We worked for eight months with the engineers on the FXX, to keep the functionality and make it beautiful." In Manzoni's job, it would be impossible not to respect Ferrari's incredible back catalog — he owns a Gandini-designed Ferrari 208 GT4, "still very beautiful, but iconic as well" — but he's no slave to the past. "Deja vu is something we don't like," he says with a slightly scolding look. "We don't agree with nostalgia or the need to create a family feeling throughout our range. But a Ferrari must be recognizable without the badge. There are different ways to do this — not just in details like the headlamps, but sometimes in how you treat the surfaces. It's tricky to explain, but it's a feeling." View 12 Photos He's also not keen on following industry trends and has historically spoken out against luxury SUVs. "Every time we work on a new Ferrari, we try to improve on every aspect — including the center of gravity — so an SUV is not a Ferrari," he stated as recently as 2015.

Ferrari Classiche returned this 275 GTB Competizione to million-dollar form

When this 275 GTB Competizione rolled into the hands of Ferrari Classiche, it was all out of sorts. Like so many of its brethren, it wore a red overcoat, but Giallo Fly yellow was its original color. The air intakes were mismatching lengths, the front suspension had an extra shock, certain areas of the bodywork were reshaped, and several other parts had been swapped throughout its adventurous life. With time and meticulous attention to detail, however, Classiche brought the GTB/C back up to Ferrari factory standards. Ferrari does not give an exact year of when it reattained chassis No. 09027, only saying it happened a few years after the car was sold at a 2004 Bonham's auction in Monte Carlo. Before that, it lived quite the tumultuous life. It left the factory on June 14, 1966, and four days later, it placed second in its class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pierre Noblet and Claude Dubois drove the No. 57 car for the Francorchamps team and finished 10th overall. According to Ferrari, the racing team made numerous on-the-fly adjustments, including cooling aero and fog lights, to make it properly race-ready. It later won the Mont Ventoux hillclimb, but was damaged during the Marathon de la Route race at the Nurburgring. The car returned to Maranello, and Carrozzeria Scaglietti, who originally built the car, fixed it up before it was sold to amateur racer Patrick McNally in 1967. McNally, after changing the car to silver, wrecked at the 1,000 km of Montlhery. Again, it was fixed, this time by Maranello Concessionaires Ltd. in the UK, and was painted red. Ferrari says the car bounced from owner to owner before it was sold at Monte Carlo. In addition to the previously mentioned issues, the Ferrari faced unoriginal parts that included the oil recovery tank, front brake discs, petrol tank, exhaust system, wheels, tires, steering wheel, and much of the interior. For some reason, the identification plaque had even been changed, but the important original pieces were there: the chassis and the engine. Today, the car is back to tip-top shape and more valuable than ever. Back in 2015, a Barrett-Jackson auction saw a 1966 Ferrari GTB Competizione sell for $9.4 million. We have a feeling Ferrari will keep this one, though. See full photos in The Official Ferrari Magazine. News Source: The Official Ferrari Magazine Auto News Ferrari Automotive History Coupe Performance Classics