With the summer break over, Formula One returns to action at the legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit for the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix.
The driver market however is hot topic of paddock following a couple of shocks, which you can read about here.
Moving that to one side, this weekend looks like it could be a corker as Sebastian Vettel seeks to claw back a 24 point deflict to Lewis Hamilton, whilst Renault try to fend off Haas and Force India for fourth in constructors championship.
First up though is our track guide before previewing each key point of the weekend in depth.
Track Guide
Circuit: Circuit de Spa Francorchamps
Laps: 44
Race Distance: 308.052km
Tyre Compounds: Mediums, Softs and Supersofts
Hamilton vs Vettel
With the summer break over, its full steam ahead as the title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel hots up.
Since the hybrid era began in 2014, Hamilton has been traditionally strong in latter stages of season with 4-6 wins per season.
Eight of those wins alone came between Belgian GP and end of September underlining just how difficult the Brit will be to beat over the coming month. He however has only won here in odd numbered years for Mercedes (2015 & 17)
Vettel meanwhile has just two wins at this end of season across same period and if refer to 2016 which is same length as this year, he only recorded two podiums from this point onwards.
Could Spa therefore be monumental in deciding the course of how the rest of season plays out?
Battle For Fourth
23 points separate Renault from Force India as the battle for fourth in Constructors’ Championship.
Force India however have the stronger recent record over Renault and Haas around Spa since latter two joined grid in 2016 (returned in Renault’s case after four season absence).
Across last two trips here, Force India have collected three point scoring finishes although could of been four if Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon hadn’t of clashed.
Compare that to Haas and Renault and that is a strong set of results because between them, they have only picked up two top ten finishes with both coming last season.
Force India might however not race this weekend due to legal issues, which would be a huge shame given their strong history around this track.
Should they fail to make grid, this could be massive in the battle for fourth.
Edit: Force India will now race at Spa but under a new entry of Racing Point Force India and forfeit all points accumulated so far under their old ‘Sahara Force India’ name.
Can Verstappen and Vandoorne impress?
For Max Verstappen and Stoffel Vandoorne, this is their home race (Verstappen races under Dutch license but born in Belgium) so both will be eager to impress for different reasons.
Both drivers however are probably going to struggle given that this is a power circuit, and for Verstappen, ‘the orange crowds and campsites full of Dutch caravans’ will be much needed to make up whatever power deflict he has if he is to stand any chance at a podium.
Vandoorne meanwhile has started to make progress in Hungary after making changes to his car, so carries a ‘positive feeling’ of momentum going into the weekend then Italy next weekend.
His seat however is under threat from McLaren reserve, Lando Norris despite false rumours circulating over summer break suggesting that Ocon would be replacing him from this weekend.
Therefore, Vandoorne needs to start delivering fast and there’s no better place to lay down a marker like home.
Another Wet Weather Test Awaits
Current weather forecasts suggest that we could have rain in store, following on from a wet German GP and Hungarian Qualifying just before the break.
Across both recent wet weather dramas, we saw some drivers and teams get exposed, with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari being of particular note.
The wet stuff is predicted to affect FP1 and both of Saturday’s sessions, which could spice up qualifying and potentially hand Hamilton his tenth consecutive race victory, having won the last nine races which featured at least a spot of rain at any point over weekend.
For Vettel, that could be damaging in terms of title race with Japan and Brazil the two other likely circuits to see rain in coming races.
Leclerc meanwhile struggled with driving in the wet as clearly witnessed in Germany, so could be an obvious Q1 casualty if he doesn’t get on top of whatever issues he has with rain.
Missed any of the first ten race weekends and want to get up to date? Click on any of the hyperlinks below to go and check out my round up of the weekend/s.
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