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
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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