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2015 Belgian Grand Prix is a return to scheduled programming

With summer intermission over, the second half of the Formula One season commenced in the Belgian countryside at Spa-Francorchamps. After qualifying, it looked a lot like the first half of the season with just a few minor changes. Lewis Hamilton was even more dominant in his Mercedes-AMG Petronas than usual, regularly taking half a second out of his teammate in just the middle sector of the circuit. Teammate Nico Rosberg tightened it up a tad for his final hot lap, but Hamilton still took pole by 0.45 seconds ahead of Rosberg in second. With his Williams back at a power track, Valtteri Bottas got himself up to third, although more than a second behind Hamilton. Romain Grosjean in the Lotus in fourth had his best qualifying performance since his fourth-place grid spot at the 2013 US Grand Prix. This was a huge boon for Lotus, the team facing another financial issue off track that threatened to have its cars impounded as soon as they left the circuit. Grosjean had to have his gearbox changed before the conclusion of six races, however, so the five-spot penalty meant he'd actually line up ninth for the race. Sergio Perez put the Sahara Force India in fifth, where we're more used to seeing his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing in sixth. Felipe Massa got the second Williams in seventh, in front of the second Lotus of Pastor Maldonado in eighth. Then came the first and only Ferrari in the top ten, Sebastian Vettel qualifying ninth after a disappointing Saturday for the scuderia; teammate Kimi Raikkonen suffered gearbox issues and qualified way down in 16th. Carlos Sainz took tenth in the Toro Rosso. A new start procedure in Belgium meant drivers had to handle clutches on their own, without the engineers finely tuning bite points between the garage and the start line. That was in conjunction with another rule limiting the kinds of radio messages possible between engineers and drivers, aiming to put more of the car in the drivers' hands. After an aborted start when Hulkenberg's car quit while sitting on the grid, Hamilton made the most of the new procedure. His start wasn't amazing but he beat everyone else off the line, while those behind were alternately getting bogged down or leaping ahead. Midway through the first lap the top ten was Hamilton, Perez, Ricciardo, Bottas, Rosberg, Vettel, Maldonado, Grosjean, Massa, Marcus Ericsson. At the end of 43 laps, Hamilton would still be in the lead.

James May's Ferrari 488 GTB road test makes us miss Top Gear

Whoever the BBC lines up for the next iteration of Top Gear, the reality with which we're coming to grips is that the show will likely never be the same. The question is whether the departing hosts will ever be the same without each other, and without the show that brought them together. This clip could go a long way towards answering that question, though. In this video review for the Driving section of the Sunday Times, James May joined the gaggles of gathering journalists in Maranello to check out the new Ferrari 488 GTB. And suffice it to say, it's not quite as entertaining (or even as well-informed) as most of the segments in which we've grown accustomed to seeing Captain Slow driving fast cars. James does have some rather relevant experience he might have imparted, though, seeing as how he didn't just drive the ultimate version of the preceding model – he went out and bought himself a 458 Speciale shortly before losing his job. So with GBP200k of car payments to make, we're hardly surprised to see him fronting for another operation. Whether it's worthy of him or not, you'll want to watch the clip to decide for yourself.

Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2 are its most powerful road cars of all time

Ferrari just pulled the wraps off the limited-edition Monza SP1 and SP2, and successfully reminded the world that it still knows how to make a jaw-dropping car. We saw the supercars and learned a few details about them earlier today when someone posted pictures on Instagram from a private Ferrari event. Now we have all the details and official photos from Ferrari. Providing the thrust is the most powerful engine Ferrari has ever built for a road car. It took the 6.5-liter V12 from the 812 Superfast and eked out a few more ponies to get it to 809 horsepower and 530 pound-feet of torque. Ferrari says that's good for a 0-62 run in 2.9 seconds - oh yeah, there's no windshield either. The SP1 is a one-seater and the SP2 is logically a two-seater. They were designed to take us back down Ferrari's memory lane, namely those of the 1940s and 1950s era where the name "barchetta" grew from. In decidedly not-old news, though, both are made of carbon fiber and go over 186 mph. They're light, but not crazily so with the SP1 coming in at 3,307 pounds. The pair are also part of a new segment Ferrari is calling 'Icona,' which, as you may have guessed, translates to Icon. Ferrari thinks it solved the windshield delete issue too. Apparently the fairing ahead of the steering wheel and instrument panel is designed to disrupt part of the airflow when traveling at speed. We'd imagine a helmet might still be the smart option though. Ferrari only plans to build 500 of these cars and hasn't publicly announced a price, but it's safe to assume that they won't be cheap and your chances of snapping one up are slim to none. Featured Video: