It’s been a long time between posts. Too long infact. I have not been regularly updating this blog due to a lot of other commitments in my life. The free time I do have is dedicated to other tasks. I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t plan on reporting post race, every race and reporting on quali, etc etc, instead I feel the need to just treat this blog as an outlet to share my love and passion for Formula1 with you. It is fitting then that I start the new era of this blog on the leadup to my favourite Grand Prix of the year…Spa!

After a long mid-season break we finally return to racing this Sunday in Belgium.

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has what is arguably the most famous corner in Formula1…Eau Rouge. I love sitting down with a good glass of wine, watching the modern F1 cars completely flat through this corner as it then rises into valley and launches them into the Kemmel straight.

So what should we expect this weekend from the top teams? RedBull still clearly have an edge over their rivals. The F-Duct however will prove to be important here. McLaren clearly have a top straight line speed advantage over the RB6 and that should play out well for them at Spa. However, there are a lot of corners of medium and medium-fast speed that will very much suit the superior handling and grip of the RB6.

Ferrari are very strong again. The revised front wing has paid for them and in the last race we saw a very strong finish for Fernando and Massa (2nd & 4th place). Ferrari should also be on pace and could very easily outpace either RedBull or McLaren.

Personally I think RedBull have the edge, but Mark Webber has got a very difficult task ahead of him with drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso nipping at his heels. Webber’s lead over Hamilton in the championship is only 4 points and his car is not streaks ahead of them in performance.

Mark has traditionally enjoyed Spa and has had decent results here in the past, but i’m sure he knows his toughest rival is his team mate. IQualifying (as always) will be very important for the RedBull drivers as passing each other on track will be near impossible (unless it is played out through pit strategy). So there for the first RedBull driver through turn1 will (barring any collisions or breakdowns) remain the leading RedBull driver.

Some of the most memorable overtaking moves have happened at Spa. Who could forget the scarp Hakkinen and Schumacher had at Spa in 2000! Here is the video for those who forgot:

This season is one of the most exciting seasons I can remember in recent times. We have had many changes in the championship leader (granted this is in part due to the points chanegs) and we also have a full grid with new teams and a bunch of new drivers. We have multiple world champions and there is no clear leader, like the “senna” ere followed by the “schumi” era. This is the era of multiple champions, maybe similar to the days of Hill, Moss, Clarke, Brabham, etc. We may be seeing a return to the old days of Formula1 where anyone could be a winner!

Friday Practice also co-incides with my Birthday this year. I plan on being glued to practice and have butterflies hanging out for Quali. With such a long break all the drivers are itching to go racing again and with Spa being a favourite circuit amoungst the majority of them, it’s sure to be a cracking weekend!

For those of you on twitter, try following @f1livetweets. If you step away from the tele or can’t catch the race, you can follow the action lap-by-lap.