FORMULA ONE GETS SPA TREATMENT
Belgian Grand Prix start of string of tracks that could favour Mercedes’ chances
We’re back. Finally.
After a month-long break between Grands Prix — and the Montreal ePrix hogging local headlines just before that — it’s time to plug into Formula One once again.
The planet’s premier racing series returns to action this weekend at historic SpaFrancorchamps in the verdant Belgian Ardennes, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel clinging to a fragile 14-point lead in the drivers’ championship.
Before we get to that, one last word about that Formula E event of late July. I was there and, for what it’s worth, I thought it was terrific.
I call it an event because that’s what it was — a full-on celebration of electrified transport, with outdoor exhibits, demonstrations, interactive stations and, yes, the main attraction: two races on consecutive days featuring all-electric F1-type cars.
I doubt there is much dispute about the benefits of electrified urban transport, and Formula E is an exciting way to showcase the technology and promote the cause. The races represent the pinnacle of this emerging, clean form of propulsion.
Montreal should stand proudly alongside other host cities like New York, Paris, Berlin, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and, next year, Rome. That the staging of our inaugural ePrix provoked such a public backlash speaks more to the failings of city hall than to the merits of the event itself.
And that’s all I’m going to say about it.
So back to F1, where the Ferrari vs. Mercedes battle resumes at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, stop No. 12 out of 20.
To recap: Vettel in the red car has four wins, the same number as Lewis Hamilton in the silver, but Vettel retains the edge in points with eight podiums to Hamilton’s six.
The key question is whether the title fight will remain as tight on the track as it appears on paper.
Ferrari might have reason to worry. After a strong start, the Prancing Horse seemed to lose a step as the season progressed, going winless in four straight races beginning at the Canadian Grand Prix.
True, the team bounced back in the best possible way at the last stop before the summer break, with Vettel leading teammate Kimi Raikkonen to a one-two finish in Hungary on July 30.
But that result points to a worrying trend for the Italian stable. While it appears to hold the edge at slower circuits like the Hungaroring, the advantage swings to Mercedes at higher-speed tracks.
And the tracks still to come seem to favour Mercedes overall — starting at Spa.
Don’t tell that to Toto Wolff, though. The motorsport boss at Mercedes doesn’t like the “favourite” label, because it carries the risk of complacency.
“On paper, people will assume that Spa should suit our car because it is a circuit where aerodynamic efficiency is extremely important,” he said. “But assumptions are dangerous — we have seen too many times already this season that the form book can be rewritten from one weekend to the next.”
True enough. But let’s not kid ourselves. It would be surprising if the Silver Arrows find themselves anywhere but at the front of the pack when the checkered flag comes down on Sunday.
So Ferrari faces a difficult test this weekend and next, when F1 heads to another high-speed circuit — Monza — at the Italian Grand Prix.
Defeat on home soil would be especially demoralizing at this juncture of the championship.
But help may come from an unlikely and reluctant ally: Valtteri Bottas, the second driver at Mercedes.
That’s because Bottas, in his first year with the team, has shown little interest in playing a supporting role for Hamilton in his fight against Vettel. He has two wins of his own, in Russia and Austria, and remains very much in the championship picture.
That’s in sharp contrast to Ferrari’s Raikkonen, who has no wins, sits fifth in the standings and seems resigned to having to help Vettel the rest of the way.
Vettel’s hope, then, is for Raikkonen to keep the Mercedes drivers at bay whenever possible (see Hungary) and for Bottas and Hamilton to continue to take points away from each other.
If that happens, Vettel could well find himself drivers’ champion for the fifth time when all is said and done, even if Ferrari ends up with fewer wins than Mercedes.