We have finally come to the awaited return of Formula One after what seems like an eternity. Now we come to possibly my favourite track of the year (maybe tied with Canada because it is my home Grand Prix). The speeds at this track are phenomenal! For sure, this race will be won by the team with the fastest car. Therefore, Mercedes should resume their 1-2 domination, since other teams like Red Bull are so much slower.
Of course, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari has managed to stick close to the Mercedes pair; I practice he was less than half a second behind Mercedes. Although we saw some great practice times, in qualifying his times dropped off and he placed fourth on the grid. However, he should be able to secure a podium because Sebastian Vettel hasn’t really been much of a competition this season, in an under-performing Red Bull car.
In the first two practice sessions, we didn’t really see the dominant Daniel Ricciardo that we have saw in the past, but by the third practice session, I think he was back to normal. He is by far the best 2014 rookie and is someone that I believe has what it takes to become a World Champion in the seasons to follow. It should be a piece of cake for him to cling onto that fourth position and we could possibly see him challenging Alonso for a position.
And of course I cannot leave out my fifth place prediction: Daniil Kvyat. This may seem like an outrageous choice because he is in a lower-end Toro Rosso car, but I think that he is a driver that you would be a fool to underestimate. In the practice sessions be saw great improvements in his times from FP1 to FP3 and in qualifying, he was able to get eleventh position, after just missing the third qualifying session. This was a great performance in qualifying, despite the very poor weather conditions.
As we saw in Hungary, rain can be the deciding factor in any Grand Prix. Often we find the teams and drivers that are usually at the top of the results, replaced by substandard teams and drivers. Teams often struggle to optimize the cars’ performance in the poor conditions that a wet session can cause: the loss of grip caused by slick track surfaces; the limited visibility for the driver; the often lower than normal, track temperatures. And when the conditions change during the session, a whole new set of issue arise.
As we come to the much awaited return of Formula One at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, after the seemingly endless summer break, we could indeed see rain become the deciding factor. The Belgian track has become known for its history of unpredictable and rapid changing weather conditions. This, sometimes horrid, weather is caused by the elevation. The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was built on the rolling hills near the Eau Rouge River, which is believed to be the cause of this weather.
We saw rainy weather in qualifying, which potentially shuffled around the field. Will we see similar weather in the race? At the current time, there are a few touches of bad weather in the forecast, but the weather can be so unpredictable that it can be hard to truly say. Lets wait and see how things pan out.
1 Lewis Hamilton
2 Nico Rosberg
3 Fernando Alonso
4 Daniel Ricciardo
5 Daniil Kvyat
