Belgian Grand Prix 2014: F1 returns after summer break

Spa-Francorchamps

Difficult break for fans

Finally,F1 breaks out of its so called "Summer Break" this weekend as the Belgian Grand Prix arrives in style. After almost a month of silence, fans will now finally find the period eerie silence and quietness coming to an end. These "breaks" every year bring out a phase of agitated irritation in every F1 fan. A month of no racing as well a slump amongst the media guys and a sudden disappearance of news and featurettes based on the sports suddenly introduces a void into the life of an F1 fan. All this may sound far fetched but hey! This silence makes us impatient! And who's to blame? For a guy who's interest revolves around the music of throbbing engines and cars and drivers pushed to their limits, silence does feels eerie.

And after enduring this eeriness for a month, the wait finally ends.

Belgium plays host

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps motor-racing circuit is the venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, and of the Spa 24 Hours and 1000 km Spa endurance races. It is one of the most challenging race tracks in the world, mainly due to its fast, hilly and twisty nature. Spa is a favorite circuit of many racing drivers and fans. Despite its name, the circuit is not in Spa but lies in the vicinity of the town of Francorchamps completely within the boundaries of the municipality of Stavelot.

Since the early 1920s, the Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps has resounded with a thousand and one fabulous tales of those heroic times in which drivers drove on earth roads at the wheel of awesome machines.

Conceived by Liège aristocrats within a magic triangle between Francorchamps, Malmédy and Stavelot, its route through the magnificent scenery of the Ardennes has taken on a force of character that has stood the test of time. Designed in 1920 by Jules de Thier and Henri Langlois Van Ophem, the original triangle-shaped course used public roads between the Belgian towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy, and Stavelot.

Circuit has slowed down over the years

The old Spa circuit was essentially a speed course with drivers managing much higher average speeds than on other race tracks, a factor that made Spa very popular from its inception. Spa is located in the Belgian Ardennes countryside, and the old circuit was and still is used as everyday public road, and there were houses, trees, electric poles, barnyards, fields and other obstacles located right next to the track.

Before 1970, there were no safety modifications of any kind done to the circuit and the conditions of the circuit were, aside from a few straw bales, virtually identical to everyday civilian use. Former Formula One racing driver and team owner Jackie Oliver was quoted as saying "if you went off the road, you didn't know what you were going to hit".

Drivers’ nightmare at one point in time

Like the Nürburgring and Le Mans circuits, Spa became notorious for fatal accidents, as there were many deaths each year at the ultra-fast track, especially at the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix where 2 drivers, Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey were both killed within 15 minutes and Stirling Moss had crashed at Burnenville during practice and was severely injured. In 1969, the Belgian Grand Prix was boycotted by F1 because of the extreme danger of Spa. There had been 10 racing fatalities in total at the track in the 1960s, including 5 in the 2 years previous. The drivers demanded changes made to Spa which were not possible on short notice, so the Belgian Grand Prix was dropped that year.

Over the years, the Spa course has been modified several times. The circuit probably demonstrates the importance of driver skill more than any other in the world. This is largely due to the Eau Rouge and Blanchimont corners, both which need to be taken flat out to achieve a fast run onto the straights after them, which aids a driver in both a fast lap and in overtaking.

Tricky track

The most famous part of the circuit is the Eau Rouge / Raidillon combination. Having negotiated the La Source hairpin, drivers race down a straight to the point where the track crosses the Eau Rouge stream for the first time, before being launched steeply uphill into a sweeping left-right-left collection of corners with a blind summit.

The 2005 and 2006 F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso explains: "You come into the corner downhill, have a sudden change of direction at the bottom and then go very steep uphill. From the cockpit, you cannot see the exit and as you come over the crest, you don't know where you will land. It is a crucial corner for the timed lap, and also in the race, because you have a long uphill straight afterwards where you can lose a lot of time if you make a mistake.

But it is also an important corner for the driver's feeling. It makes a special impression every lap, because you also have a compression in your body as you go through the bottom of the corner. It is very strange – but good fun as well."

Spa is a special circuit for fans as well as drivers. Hopes for an exciting race are at its peak and Spa is all but set to deliver. The circuit holds all the necessary ingredients for a high octane race but what about the teams and the drivers?

Mercedes

The Silver Arrows dominant run this season is far from an indication that the German team had an quiet and relaxed summer break. Instead the break must have been spent gaining reliability for the car and particularly for the car numbered 44. Mercedes surely would have worked all the summer to make sure it’s not hit by reliability issues.

Despite arriving with an 11 point lead into the race, Nico Rosberg will be the one under more pressure. The Hungarian Grand Prix snatched away an expected win from Rosberg. The rains and the safety car first snatched his first position and mid race break issues meant he spent a few frustrating laps behind the Toro Rosso of JE Vergne.

But the fact that he was more fettered by being unable to pass Hamilton in the final corners of the final lap after putting an impressive drive to quell the 12 second gap that lied between them in just a matter of a couple of laps may put him in psychological pressure arriving in this race. But that doesn't mean all's well for Hamilton. Even though he may be in a rejuvenated form after finally beating his team mate and title contender in a race after a long period of time, obstacles lies ahead for the Briton in Spa. Lewis has not been in his best of form when it comes to qualifying. True people will say he suffered in a lot of races due to reliability issues, but that doesn't mask his costly mistakes in qualifying sessions in a couple of races. And the fact that Spa punishes those who commit mistakes, Lewis definitely needs to put in his best efforts for qualifying if he hopes to start the race ahead of his team mate on the grid.

Red Bull

It’s not very difficult to guess how the Austrian outfit's summer break would have been spent. I'm sure each and every day of theirs would have been spent on lambasting Renault for providing an engine that went on to wreak one of Newey's beautiful creation. So the question must not be what Red Bull did all the month rather what Renault did in all this time. Well the weekend would probably answer that.

And what to say of Daniel Ricciardo, once again he has proved whenever Mercedes will falter he will be there to attack. Canada and now Hungary, the Australian has definitely proved he's the next big thing in F1. Charged up with the win Ricciardo is expected to pounce once again in case Mercedes hit trouble.

While things are going awry for the defending world champion this season. Not only has he been struggling with reliability an issue this season, his supremacy has been challenged by his own team mate. Australian Karma i would say. After playing second fiddle to his team mate in all the races so far, Vettel finally put in his best and achieved P2 on the grid. But his bad luck followed and the rain and the safety car in the early period along with a spin mid race chewed and spit him out of top ten after which the best the German could achieve was 7th place. Not only that his team mate managed to finish higher than him but went on to win the race! Now it remains to be seen how he fares at Spa.

Ferrari

Well the goal for Ferrari in the break was a simple one. They didn't have to focus on the specifics or encounter a specific set of diverse problems. They had the same set of targets to achieve as they had since the first race in Australia, make the car better. Well jokes apart, Ferrari's true standing this season has been a matter of debate amongst everyone including Ferrari engineers. While Alonso has constantly been managing to punch above what F14 T is capable of, Kimi on the other hand has so far underperformed in the car.

Alonso's 2nd once again justified his 200% performance giver tag. The way he defended his place against the faster and better Mercedes of Hamilton showcased his talent and experience.While 6th finishing Kimi after starting from 17th following a blunder on the part of Ferrari in the qualifying session, saw his highest finish in the season so far. While the season’s best finish and the added joy of becoming a father very soon will definitely have Kimi charged up for the Spa, but that doesn’t mean things are all rosy and positive for the Finnish. his best finish of the season so far came from the fact that the leading trio in the race were struck by the safety car which relegated them outside top ten and also that the two Force Indians crashed out of the race who were prior to their retirement running ahead of him.

Williams

Williams has definitely resurfaced as a strong contender and with a strong car with minimal issues, their summer must have been spent in a relaxed manner as compared to the other teams.

Despite a disappointing race where a guaranteed podium was snatched away from Bottas, who after running second, could only salvage 8th after being struck by bad luck. Now it remains to be seen how he performs this weekend.

While Massa avoided bad luck in this race and finished the race in P5 ahead of his team mate.

McLaren

Another Team standing amongst its competitors is a matter of deep thought. While a blunder with the tyre strategy saw Button and Magnussen finishing 10th and 12th respectively with the former constantly radioing the pit wall asking where the rain was after McLaren determined that fresh rain was imminent, sent Button on his way with a fresh set of intermediates.

Force India

Watching Force India race this season evokes the feeling of joy and pity both. Joy for watching a mid field team taking other bigger teams head on and even managing to defeat them on many a occasions, while a sense of pity for the team who is unable to further improve a competent side due to budget constraints. Baring a few minor upgrades, VJM07 is more or less the same car as it was on the starting of this season.

Lack of funds mean the team cannot churn out upgrades and new parts like Ferrari or McLaren. But the returns to racing this week after the break would definitely see major upgrades on the car, but how successful these upgrades would be remains to be seen. While the last race was a race of many firsts of the squad. The team saw their first double retirement as well the first occasion where they failed to score a single point.

Nico Hulkenberg experienced his first retirement of the season and with that his consistent run of finishing in all races and scoring in each one of them ended leading to Alonso being the only driver left with the same credentials. Perez too ended his race a few laps later by spinning and banging his car on the pit wall on lap 23.

And further....

Sutil impressed too with a season best finish of 11th splitting the two McLarens therefore another impressive drive at Spa must be in tow and same could be the case of JE Vergne who made it to top 10. The fact that him in a Toro Rosso kept the mighty Mercedes of Nico Rosberg at bay for a couple of laps for the 2nd position, but the news of his subsequent departure from Toro Rosso for the 2015 season will definitely have an impact on his performance.