After a lull of four weeks, Formula One returns to action this weekend in Belgium. After depriving us of action, fans have three races each to look forward in the months of September, October and November and I am excited to see how the championship battle between the Mercedes drivers plays up.
While most expect Hamilton to claim his second successive and third World Drivers’ Championship overall, I am hoping we see some fight from Rosberg to claim his first or for the absolute Ferrari-Vettel fans, the German’s fifth! A good fight for top honours is what I seek.
If Hungary was anything to go by, Mercedes know that Ferrari will and Williams won’t pounce if they falter at the starts. The ‘manual start’ by the driver will only add more spice come Spa along with some burnt clutches. Hungary also showed to Hamilton and his fans that his championship lead is only a retirement or bad race long!
Apart from the racing, I expect the off-track news to keep fans engaged too. Will Ferrari renew Raikkonen’s services for 2016 or not? That’s the big game changer in the drivers’ market in my view. The Italian team is known to retain their drivers way past their sell by date, but if Raikkonen is shown the door, who will be his replacement? While Bottas and Hulkenberg are the most discussed options, I am keen to know if any of the Red Bull Racing drivers (Ricciardo or Verstappen specifically) are spoken to and how their complex contract situations are handled. That is if Vettel allows drivers from his alma mater.
The second team with driver related dilemma would be Mclaren. While Alonso will stay, will Button’s contract be renewed? Or will Magnussen or Vandoorne be promoted to a racing seat? And while Mclaren take their time figuring their line-up, the big question in my mind is if any of the younger drivers are keen to make the step up without the guarantee of a competitive engine by Honda! And if things don’t improve, will Formula One lose Alonso to the World Endurance Championships or something similar? I guess this is a problem that even Ecclestone can’t fix!
Renault’s decision on their investments in F1 will have my keen interest. To me, they’re possibly the most confused manufacturer the sport has seen in the last two decades for their – win, quit, win, quit attitude. It is public that they’re contemplating whether to acquire an existing mid-field team or start up a new works team or quit the sport altogether. While losing an engine supplier and an existing investor in the sport isn’t good news, leaving the supply of engines to Ferrari and Mercedes isn’t a good idea either.
Apart from engine economics, one wonders the fate of Red Bull Racing and whether they will pick up a Ferrari or Mercedes engine to power their chassis given the lack of other options. And should they do so, will this hamper their competitiveness? The situation that Red Bull finds themselves in isn’t most comfortable and what will make me most uncomfortable is if this leads to a change in their approach towards the Young Driver Program, one of the few genuine programs to bring young talent to the sharp end of the grid in the sport.
And lastly, will Massa be retained too? Over to Spa!
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