Belgium: Early Thoughts

The mid-season interval is nearly over, and the fantastic Spa circuit awaits this weekend. After a suggestion from Mr. Putney, I’m putting up an early article for vague musings about Spa (and the latter half of the season in general). Tips, suggestions, questions, comments and magic incantations to stop Flavio Briatore becoming president of Ferrari are all welcome in the comments section.

Hard to see Mercedes being caught. I expect Williams to challenge and probably better Red Bull at Spa and Monza (the next race) but the Red Bulls will be best of the rest at twistier, slower circuits.

How McLaren, Ferrari and Force India upgrade their cars will be critical. Force India especially have slid down the order recently.

A bet I have in mind is to back Williams to top score when Monza rolls around. I’ll try and remember to check the odds after Spa. They’re 8 to top score in Spa. Not sure about that, will mull it over.

A key question for the season is whether or not Mercedes have overcome their car’s fragility. It’s not a wreck, but they have lost a stack of points. That’ll affect not only other teams, but also who ultimately wins the title.

We’ll also see increasing discussion of the market for drivers next year, with plenty of potential movers, including (but not limited to): Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Bottas, Bianchi.

Spa’s a circuit where both top speed and downforce matters. Hard to be certain but I’d guess Red Bull’s superior chassis will not be enough to trump Williams’ excellent power.


Morris Dancer

Comments

  1. Max Verstappen (son of ex-F1 driver Jos) is to replace Vergne at Toro Rosso next year. He's currently 16 and will be 17 at the season's start in 2015.

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