Round 12: Belgium 2014 - Delayed Review

Greetings Internet, 

I know the race took place yesterday and all the things that happened, did happen a long time ago now - but other commitments meant that it wasn't practical to start making a post after midnight. So as a result this series of characters, words and I am lucky, complete legible sentences, is no longer timely or relevant. There is a valid argument that says that noting posted in this corner of the internet has ever being relevant, and thus probably shouldn't even be here - but on we go. To give a hope of getting this completed this side of midnight, you will be glad to know that I intend it to be a more concise recollection of a race that might prove pivotal in terms of the remainder of the season. Of course no matter what happened across the 44 lap event, the whole world will be all up in arms about the tiniest bit of contact that took place on lap 2. 

The Race

There were some vague concerns about rain at the start of the race, but that merely amassed to a couple of rogue drops rather than anything worthwhile. Maybe if there had have been a little bit of moisture things might have turned out very differently and all those angry faces at the end of the race. It appeared that the Ferrari team forgot when the race was starting and had people working on Alonso's car as the formation lap got underway. Fernando was to be handed a 5s pit-lane penalty which for a clear-cut rule violation seemed to take an age to decide and was a tad lenient. 

Hamilton made the best of the start and moved himself and Vettel ahead of Rosberg through La Source. Towards the back of the grid, Bianchi ran into difficulties, or more accurately difficulties ran into the back of him - due to the lack of any relevant replays I've no idea who did the hitting, but as a result Bianchi suffered a rear puncture. Up at the top of the hill, Vettel attempted to go round the outside of Hamilton at Les Combes - but had to run across the chicane. This promoted Rosberg back up to second - behind his team-mate.

Lap two at Spa will forever be known as "The Incident" at Les Combes. Rosberg had a run on Hamilton up the kemmel straight and went to the outside on turn in to Les Combes. Nico stayed on the outside, with only the tiniest fraction of an overlap - and instead of backing out of the move he argued the point. This became a problem when Hamilton wanted to take the racing line for the second apex and... the incident happened. Rosberg's front wing clipped Hamilton's rear tyre which was immediately punctured. On the way back to the pits Lewis' deflating tyre shredded the undertray of the car. This collision was an inevitable event in team where the only immediate threat comes from the other side of the garage, after a post race 'special meeting' at Mercedes. It was claimed that Rosberg suggested he could avoid the collision if he wanted to, and stayed alongside to prove a point. That point being that he'd refuse to back down...ever, which is all well and good demonstrating a strong stance and a refusal to be pushed around, but this wasn't the way of doing it. Sure Hamilton forced Rosberg off in Hungary in those final laps, and a refusal to let that happen again hurt both cars. Someone should forward Rosberg some footage of Alonso's on board footage - because Fernando knows when to back out of a move - and no-one maintains the opinion that the Ferrari driver is a push over. I understand what Nico was up to, but he wasn't far enough alongside for it pay off.

With Nico now struggling with a car with a damaged front wing he found himself under pressure from a group of pursuing cars. Namely from the two Red Bull drivers, Alonso having lost ground to Ricciardo. In a bizarre case of role reversal it was the Ferraris that were sitting ducks in a straight line while a low downforce setting for Red Bull made them faster... Ricciardo continued he charge forward when he picked off his team-mate after Vettel got sideways in the middle of Pouhon - that lower downforce setup biting the German. In a continuation of the broadcast crew being slightly ignorant of the lower end competitors both Lotterer and Maldonado had retired without the smallest amount of TV coverage. The top four cars all had sight of one another coming into the first round of pit-stops, which in this era is a bit of an oddity. 

After the stops, it appeared that re-occurring debris was to be the story of the middle part of the race. Firstly it was Felipe Massa who got some of Hamilton's shredded tyre caught on the car, and hamper his progress and speed starting off with a position dropped to Sergio Perez's Force India. The Williams team calculated that the time spent with the debis caught on the car cost the Brazilian a total time loss of 40s. Then the debris struck again - almost as if the ghost of Hamilton's dreams were haunting the rest of the field. This time a section of the carcass got caught on Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber which in itself is an unremarkable affair. But after Rosberg pitted for a new front wing he rejoined behind the Mexican - and as he pulled out to make a pass the tyre material dislodged and flew onto Nico's car. Wrapping itself round the aerial such that is was tickling the German's visor - which can't be distracting at all...

As the stops cycled, Jenson Button occupied the lead position, something that McLaren haven't been accustomed to in a while - but it was only temporary as he too had to pit. Promoting Ricciardo up into the top spot after Rosberg lost track position through replacing the nosecone. If one McLaren dropped back, another was make steps further up the grid - Magnussen overtaking Vergne and being another car to effortless breeze past a Ferrari in a straight line. In Bahrain when they were defenceless on the straights Dominicali was encouraged to remove himself. This time they still had one car left in the hunt, after an early stop and some impressive lap times brought Raikkonen onto the back of the leading drivers in second place. Sebastian Vettel was under threat from Nico Rosberg in a recovering Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas' Williams. The slimmest wing settings on that Red Bull and Sebastian's 'Defence Mode' was actually working out against the raw pace of the Mercedes. Nico tried to make it work on the outside of the Bus Stop chicane and ultimately surrendered the place to Bottas as a result. 

At the half-way point life was getting difficult for Mercedes - Rosberg had to pit again to cure a vibration caused by a significant lock-up when fighting Vettel. Hamilton was still in the race, and was complaining regularly on the team-radio asking to give up, asking to pull the car into retirement. Mercedes urged him to continue in the hope that a potential safety car intervention would bring him onto the back of the field. It took until a few laps from the end of the race, before Lewis' wishes were heeded and the damaged car and his ruined afternoon were officially brought to a close. But when Rosberg rejoined the track, on new un-damaged tyres he was very quick - making light work of Jenson Button and then breezing past Fernando Alonso on the Kemmel straight... That higher downforce configuration wasn't giving anyone in a Ferrari too much to defend with. Raikkonen had the same problem when he found himself dealing with Rosberg's Mercedes - utterly powerless to prevent the German coming through.

Alonso found himself in the midst of another battle when he came across the McLaren of Kevin Magnussen on older worn tyres and what ensued was a display of substantial defensive driving. Kevin refused to give in and unlike Rosberg, Alonso decided not to force the issue backing out in Malmedy to avoid contact. This particular duel was only silenced when Magnussen pitted to remove those older tyres and give Alonso a break. But up front there was the thought of a gargantuan tussle for the lead - because Rosberg was homing in on Ricciardo at a vast rate of knots. Even after a final stop for fresh soft tyres and carving past Bottas the Mercedes was powering towards Daniel at over two seconds a lap... unfortunately Nico required to be travelling about half a second faster to have a change of rescuing a win from a challenging day for the team as a whole.

So as that battle seemed like it was going nowhere, it was fortunate that there was another far more intense one brewing further back. Somehow Magnussen found himself at war with Alonso again, and this time he brought Button and Vettel along for the ride. With laps remaining being in short supply the Dane was getting increasingly desperate - combined with the fact that the Ferrari was having difficulty overtaking anything in a straight line. As soon as Alonso came close to making a pass Magnussen would close the door - even on the middle of the Kemmel straight pushing Fernando onto the grass. This allowed Jenson to pounce on the Ferrari round the outside of Malmedy, Button tried to follow that up with an outside pass of Rivage. True to form Magnussen slammed the door shut pushing Jenson off the track and allowing Alonso back through. Vettel was also able to pass Button into Fagnes. On the next lap Alonso tried to pass Magnussen again - to the outside of Rivage, and once again was nerfed off on the exit - allowing Vettel to steal another position. This duel intensified as the collection of drivers had to negotiate an intense battle between Ericsson and Chilton at the back of the field.

At the very front, Ricciardo was too far ahead to be caught by Nico, and took a third victory for Red Bull in front of the German. Bottas took the third place from Raikkonen after merely blasting past the Ferrari, like so many others have done before. Vettel made sure he passed Magnussen - swerving towards the Dane in the braking zone to La Source and surviving contact with Alonso who couldn't avoid the two cars slowing on the apex. Button remained behind his team-mate as McLarens finished 6th and 7th, and Alonso limped home with a damaged wing in 8th. The points were finished by Perez in 9th and Kvyat in 10th. Magnussen was later penalised for pushing Alonso off track and dropped down to 12th in the results.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

After a day and many hours after the flag brought the event to a close it is time to update the points scorers from the Belgian GP - note that the overall points are being maintained in a spreadsheet which writes out the relevant HTML, just to prevent any hint of points equalisation as the season progresses.

• 25pts - Daniel Ricciardo - As soon as Mercedes mess up Ricciardo is able to capitalise and consistently making Vettel look rather average
• 18pts - Kimi Raikkonen - After a relatively poor season, only a weak top speed kept the Finn off the podium at Spa
• 15pts - Fernando Alonso - A brilliant display of skill in both battles with Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button - and a spectacular save at the top of Eau Rouge, and a less experienced set of hands that car was going in the wall.
• 12pts - Valtteri Bottas - Another podium finish for the Williams driver, considerably beating Massa - although Felipe had issues in the race
• 10pts - Kevin Magnussen - In the first battle he was defending brilliantly, but doesn't score as well due to the actions towards the end even if he was fending off a trio of drivers with seven world titles between them.
• 8pts - Max Chilton/Marcus Ericsson - Even through they are the slower pay drivers of the bottom teams their little scrap almost had the Magnussen fight running four wide as they lapped them. And for virtually high-fiving each other on twitter afterwards.
• 6pts - Jenson Button - Has to have some points for that pass on Fernando at Malmedy and for keeping out of the way of Magnussen
• 4pts - Daniil Kvyat - Despite being absent from all TV coverage throughout the race but still comes home with some more points
• 2pts - Nico Rosberg - Despite making a pigs ear out of that move on Hamilton it was a solid recovery drive with some incisive passes
• 1pt - Artem Markelov - Gets the remaining point for his outstanding pass on Tom Dillman in GP2 when the track was wet on the outside curbs of Malmedy

The Penalty Points Championship

It is not often these days that the penalty points series makes an appearance but after Spa there will be some additions.

• Nico Rosberg - Yes you were trying to make a point, but that was a little silly of you now wasn't it
• Lewis Hamilton - Stop whining, so what if you're last miles off the pace - so are Chilton and Ericsson, but they don't throw in the towel because points are impossible. Sure they don't have a championship to fight and engine components worth conserving - but their race isn't less important than yours
• Camera Director - There are cars outside the top eight - just wanted to remind you
• GP2 Stewards - There was nothing wrong with what Cecotto did (for once) so there was no need to ask him to move over
• The Stewards - Their F1 counterparts get penalty points too, it took an age to penalise Ferrari for a blatant breech of the regulations and even then delivered a weak penalty. Having a loose wheel in the pits beings on all hell fury from the administrators, but a team calling personnel onto a live grid as cars are powering up for a formation lap gets a slap on the wrist...is this the FIA delivering a lesser penalty to Ferrari because they are friends... who knows.

Looking ahead to Monza

From one extreme speed circuit to another, replacing the high speed corners and elevation changes with pure power. A race which should be Mercedes' to lose, but then again so should have been this one and look what happened, but I daresay that the two Mercedes team-mates may be travelling in separate coaches down to Monza with not a word spoken between them - especially if Toto Wolf's face was anything to go by. His post race interview would certainly give Kvyat's death stare a run for it's money when the cameras picked him up yesterday. As it was reported across the internet, following the events of Spa and "The Incident" - it is most certainly on...

 

Round 12: Belgium 2014 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet, 

That has to be a first, hail stones falling the moments before the session got underway and some of the most intense rainfall that the paddock has seen in a long time. A similarly big storm arrived a couple of hours later and drowned the GP2 race for a lap or so. The unpredictability of the weather across the Ardenne region struck once more today, from monsoon rains, hail and then bright sunshine. So a typical day in Spa then, not that it did to much to uproot Mercedes campaign of domination that resumed faultlessly after the summer break. 

In all honesty although I did sit and watch qualifying today, as I do regularly during a season - I can't remember any of it. Because there was various things that needed painting - there is a giant false beak for a tropical bird which doesn't exist and an articulating tortoise... I may as well point out what they are now because as I survey the fruits of my labours I can only glad that the audience are a considerable distance from the stage when these creations are unveiled at the end of the week. This is why I was never too good at art. But on with the show, and I shall now google what did happened in the rain and damp of Belgium and do my level best write something meaningful about today.

Qualifying

The last of the gigantic storms had rolled away before Q1 was due to start and most of the larger puddles had drained from the track surface, leaving the circuit on the cusp of selecting intermediates over the full wet compound. The majority of the field did vote for the intermediate tyre, while Williams stuck with the wet option. It appeared neither had the advantage over the other, the intermediates were faster but were at a higher risk of aquaplaning - Daniil Kvyat hitting a puddle on the way down to Eau Rouge. Fortunately the Russian saved the little slide and didn't end up in the wall. Braking was also proving very difficult - those on the full wet tyres have a smaller contact patch with the tarmac and both Massa and Bottas were experiencing lock-ups under braking. Even the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton ran wide at the Bus Stop after running out of grip on entry. But save of the session belonged to Kimi Raikkonen who got a little sideways in Radillon - which could easily have been an enormous shunt.

On the time sheets the Mercedes team locked out the provisional front row with Hamilton in front, meanwhile Gutierrez pulled his Sauber into retirement on the exit of Stavelot. This meant, in theory that only one car from a team other than Caterham or Marussia would be up for relegation. Neither Lotterer in his Caterham debut or Ericsson looked like they were going to turn their fortunes around like Van Der Garde did for the team in 2013. Marussia however were fairing much better Bianchi and even Chilton, having taken his drive back from Rossi, were out of the relegation zone. In the dying minutes of the session Romain Grosjean was able to bump Chilton down into relegation. Hulkenberg had a chance to do the same to the Lotus driver, but a lock-up in the Bus Stop chicane thwarted his chances. Bianchi however remained safe and paid another visit to Q2.

Q2

More rain was threatened as Q2 began so there was an immediate stream of cars too to the circuit, and because of the length of the track and the time it takes to complete an inlap/outlap sequence the drivers were left to circulate for a while. Perez and Grosjean in the lone contenders for their respective teams were the first drivers to set a time - despite Romain getting very sideways through the first corner at La Source. Grosjean went one step further on his next lap spinning after changing some settings on the steering wheel.
A hint of some additional precipitation started to show as more cars were getting sideways - Kvyat once more having to stop the car spinning into the fence. Daniil always seeming to test the limits of adhesion - in those moments when he is not delivering that infamous death stare. Hamilton had a little wobble in Eau Rouge, and Rosberg benefitted from the extended tarmac on the outside of Beau Rivage. Had the gravel still been there, it'd be curtains for the German. 

In the final few moments of the session it appeared to be a battle between McLaren and the two Red Bull teams to avoid relegation. Initially Magnussen and the Toro Rosso drivers that had the advantage, how Vergne has the motivation to keep going after being dropped by the team. In challenging conditions you can never rule out Jenson Button, and the Briton delivered once again - relegating Vergne as he jumped into the top ten. The second Toro Rosso fell to after a final charge from Sebastian Vettel - and on the drive back to the garage after the session concluded Daniil was noticeably livid. The Russian was shaking his fist and was very unhappy about something - made so much worse when he span the car while trying to drive it with one hand. If there is anything worse than that death stare, it is a very angry death stare...

Q3

To avoid further conflict it is time to move on to Q3 the final session, and it was all set up for another titanic battle between Hamlton and Rosberg for pole position. Mercedes had over a second in hand over the rest of the field - no-one could get anywhere near them on pace. The weather prevented a strike from Williams and everyone else further behind them. Hamilton went first and immediately dropped the ball in turn one, just running wide and losing time before the lap had really begun. Rosberg immediately capitalised on Lewis' error to take the initial pole position, to make matters worse for Hamilton the timing of his mistake prevented a double run at the end of the session. 

Behind the Mercedes pairing Red Bull were running mere centimetres from disaster through Blancimont - Vettel running along the damp curbing on his way to third place. Ricciardo went one better and was sliding across the tarmac run-off through the puddles without lifting - he did lose the chance of beating Vettel in the process. Back to the lead battle and Hamilton was driving inordinately slowly through the final chicane, setting up for a final charge. But once again he almost threw the whole thing away in La Source, but this time kept up the momentum, his challenge did come apart in Stavelot where he just drifted offline and to the grass verge. Lewis managed to improve his time compared to the first lap but was still slower than Nico. To add insult to injury Rosberg went and improved his time and claim a fourth consecutive pole position - this time against a team-mate that was still in contention. 

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

It is these conditions that can often exemplify some of the strongest performances and make others look very embarrassed. 

• 10pts - Jules Bianchi - When the conditions get tricky at Spa, Jules manages to shine - making it into Q2
• 8pts - Nico Rosberg - In a straight fight in difficult conditions, and the German comes out on top when Lewis was tipped to dominate
• 6pts - Sebastian Vettel - Best of those drivers who don't have the good fortune of the Mercedes car
• 5pts -  Lewis Hamilton - Gets the car back onto the front row, but still continues to make mistakes.
• 4pts - Andre Lotterer - His first qualifying session in very difficult conditions and the Le Mans champion defeats Ericsson by over a second... why wasn't he replaced this weekend instead
• 3pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Gets some points for the greatest save of the session
• 2pts - Daniil Kvyat - Gets some points for lots of sideways moments and an entertaining mental breakdown on the drive back to the pits.
• 1pt -Konstantin Tereshchenko - A name you might not have heard of, me neither frankly, but this Russian in GP3 practice was thrown several metres into the air after hitting one of those giant curbs. The ones put in place to stop corner cutting, caused an enormous accident - if Red Bull gives you wings than this could be a new way of joining their development program. Here's a link to his incredible flight, which he did walk harmlessly away from. Here

Looking to Tomorrow

Well, the forecasts suggest that tomorrow will be a completely dry race, but given the variability of the Belgian weather don't necessarily mean that is a certainty. Either way for the first time in a few races we are scheduled for a duel for the victory between both of the Mercedes drivers sitting on the front row. A battle hopefully on the same level that we saw all the way back in Bahrain because that was majestic. In fact we have all the main protagonists at the front of the grid on a track which deserves and demands a lot of respect. It should be a brilliant afternoon.

Round 12: Belgium 2014 - Preview

Greetings Internet, 

After a month of digital silence this corner of the internet has returned, no doubt to the sound of international disappointment and a chorus of general indifference. But even if - as per usual - I am indeed merely spouting words out into the most uninhabited reaches of cyberspace, where no-one can hear you type, life and unintelligible writing shall go on.  This time we start off by asking the question - "What on earth is going on?" - because in the past four weeks it appears that the entire paddock has lost the plot. To begin with we had Bernie, F1's deranged overlord and supreme ruler, meandering his way out of a bribery trial.... with a bribe. Normally something like this is followed by the mad troll unveiling an insane change in the regulations, for example when the trial commenced there was a sudden announcement regarding standing restarts in 2015 and an Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This time the old man has been suspiciously quiet... and I'm not sure which response is scarier.

In other news F1 is about to turn into a crèche, after rumours that Sauber would sign Russian teenager Sergey Sirotkin faded away - the sport has acquired it's first child. Enter Max Verstappen, son of former competitor Jos, who has been handed a place at Toro Rosso alongside Kvyat - instead Vergne. This caps off a torrid year Vergne has had with Red Bull's driver program, ignored by the main team in favour of Ricciardo, and now thrown out altogether to make way for Verstappen Jnr. But the influence of young Max's promotion cuts deeper than just alienating Vergne, Antonio Felix Da Costa was the original favourite for Daniil's seat - and he lost out there too. Then there is Carlos Sainz Jnr and Alex Lynn, both doing very well in FR3.5 and GP3 respectively - each with countless more race experience under their collective belts than Verstappen, but they were ignored as well. In the face of a very strong pool of driver talent why Max, admittedly he is doing a remarkable job in Euro F3... not that I've actually seen any of it. But does one season automatically make you F1 material, I doubt it especially as the chap is only 16 at the moment... which is the most depressing fact about the whole thing. 

With one rookie toddler on the way, the grid gains another new face this weekend. Caterham for some bemusing reason have asked Andre Lotterer to drive in the Begian GP - from what I can gather it is a single race deal as a random punt at scoring some points if it rains at Spa. Lotterer is part of the Audi Le Mans squadron and has won the epic 24hr race on three occasions. Unlike Max, Andre is a proven driver with a very successful history in sports cars and endurance racing, including proficiency in changeable conditions. Sounds like a very interesting prospect, and it is, but there are one or two problems with the plan. Problem 1: The team are giving him Kobayashi's car... if the team are looking for points in a crazy race, why take out your current fastest driver... of course the answer is that Ericsson has more money. Problem 2: The Caterham is monumentally different to Lotterer's Audi R18, so in order for this to work Andre has to turn up and be immediately faster than Ericsson. Remember in 2009 when Fisichella went to Ferrari when Massa was recovering - he was miles off the pace because he didn't know the car. How is a complete rookie to this category going to miraculously solve Caterhams problems, Lotterer is a magnificent driver - but I can't see this working out.

The Venue

After that slightly oversized introduction and update, it is about time I moved on to discuss the track for this weekend's action. Spa-Francorchamps is nothing short of wonderful, a graceful relic of how things should be. It has everything, immensely daunting and infamous corners, overtaking opportunities, elevation changes and a rhythm and a flow that Herman Tilke could never find at the bottom of track architecture manual. Even in this modern age of high downforce and driver safety, Spa remains a fearsome prospect. The annual 24hr GT race took place before the summer break, and delivered one of the most violent and destructive races the track has seen - each accident was larger and more vicious than the last, fire and devastation everywhere. Marcus Mahy had to undergo neck surgery after being placed in an induced coma such was the extent of the impact he suffered. So Spa cannot be taken lightly.

The lap begins at the aptly named 'La Source' hairpin, the slowest corner on the track and only a short distance away from the start line. It is one of the primary overtaking spots, but on occasion can put many an errant front wing in danger. La Source exits onto the GT straight, used for fields too large to fit on the start straight - it is a steep descent, straight to the foot of Spa's most formidable landmark. Carved into the side of a mountain is the infamous Eau Rouge, a corner that may be far more challenging this season with lower downforce levels, especially for the lower teams. I'd be surprised if over the course of the weekend, the corner doesn't consume at least one unsuspecting victim - be it through the heart of Eau Rouge or across the top of the hill at Radillon, Spa can be merciless.

If you survive Eau Rouge with all four wheels still attached, there a brief respite in the form of the Kemmel straight - home of the longest of the DRS zones. Kemmel is interrupted by a break in the tree line hiding a clearing, and the Les Combes chicane. Les Comes is a sequence which introduces the magical middle sector of the lap, each corner seems to appear precisely where it feels it should be. On the exit of Les Combes pull the car back over to the left, just in time for Malmedy, followed by a short straight feeding into the challenging downhill and off camber braking zone for Beau Rivage. Rivage on the surface seems to be a generic 180 degree corner, but the radius, duration and elevation change all come together to make it stand out. On the exit the car almost instictively floats to the right as the road naturally sweeps downhill through Bruxelles - the corner which for so many years appeared to have no name. Each organic contour of the land fitting together seamlessly.

Down another steep incline the road plummets towards Pouhon, while downforce and car performance have nullified the challenge of many a corner, Pouhon comfortably holds onto its reputation. The double apex descending left hander is narrow and tantalisingly close to being flat out, but leave the boot in and a potential trip to the scenery is on the cards. Even on the exit you're not safe, drift a little too far over the wrong side of the curb and the car will be fired back across into the inside wall...the track limits will bite. Pouhon gives way to the final part of the middle sector of this monolithic layout, a gentle right-left sequence at Fagnes pinches the cars ever so slightly on the exit - to make you're still concentrating. At the lowest point of the circuit, the final sector begins with Stavelot, a corner which may seem deceptively simple but has seen many visting the tyre barrier after underestimating it. 

The long climb back up to the pit straight is an expression of unrelenting power and top speed, another example things you just don't see anymore in modern circuit design - unless it is an obligatory >1km straight.... This final section first turns gently through Curve Paul Frere before building up even more speed for the fastest corner on the entire calendar. Blancimont, it may be stripped of it's gravel after it put Luciano Burti in an overnight coma, but it is no less ominous. Admittedly these days it is easy flat for most if not all of the grid... but add a sprinkle of rain and the result is terrifying. 

This only leaves one corner left - well one chicane - and after almost 6km of tarmac brilliance it always makes you wonder what on earth was going on in the minds of the people who redesigned the bus stop. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's the Bus Stop chicane was a cheeky combination of corners that weren't too slow and required precision to avoid putting it in the wall. A revision in the mid 2000's was a severe downgrade but still followed some of the ethos of the original. The latest update as part of Spa's regeneration program a few years ago is an utter travesty and an abomination of a corner. Yes overtaking is easier there now, which was the design buzzword at the time, but at what cost... I understand why it happened, in much the same way I understand why the Hockenheimring was shortened... But I don't have to like it. The newer Bus Stop is the equivalent of stapling a giant spoiler on the back of an E-Type, just because it improves downforce... It's just not the done thing. At least they didn't get their hands on the rest of the place.

The Form Guide

I expect to see some updates and upgrades making into circulation after the summer break - Caterham decided to update a driver... and then put him in the wrong car. But will that change the order of things, well probably not, aside from the middle sector Spa is mainly about power - the blast from La Souce to Les Combes through Eau Rouge, and then from Stavelot to the corner that is a shadow of the Bus Stop are both high speed sections. Therefore this should be Mercedes territory as far as the engines go, so look for strong results from Williams, McLaren and Force India. While the factory team, barring any mechanical difficulties vanish off into the distance. But Spa used to be notoriously difficult on the mechanical components, so in this age of increased reliability challenges, that isn't all done and dusted either. 

Away from the Mercedes powered onslaught, Red Bull could be on for a respectable weekend, because the flowing middle sector should play nicely into their hands. It does however remain a case of damage limitation on the faster sections where the opposition have a clear advantage. Of the main teams it could be Ferrari that lose out here, with a car which is neither fastest in a straight line or round corners, but more of a general purpose creation may lack the specialities of those around them to keep up. I sense points but not those towards the very front of the field, but I think the in-house battle could be very interesting given how much Raikkonen enjoy's Spa and his gradual improvement in acclimatising to the car. 

The lower mid-field may belong to Toro Rosso this weekend, with Lotus struggling for both speed and downforce and Sauber much the same, just with better reliability. Depending on race conditions this fight could be for the final championship point on Sunday. Further back, the lower teams really need the traditional rains of the Ardennes to improve their chances of success. Caterham obviously banking on some changeable conditions in their appointment of Lotterer for the weekend. Of all the places to come and learn how to drive one of the most difficult cars on the grid... potentially in the rain as well. 

The Belgian GP is a rare beacon of how things used to be, set on a twisting ribbon of wonder plotted along the sculpted topography of the land. It is a marvellous venue which can deliver magnificent races wet or dry... and occasionally both. But there is always the chance that on a flowing rhythmic circuit such as this that the drivers fall into the trap of a high speed procession. Hopefully the chances of that are relatively slim, bring it on.