FORMULA 1 - 2015

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Inside story: What it’s really like to be an F1 mechanic

Working on exotic Formula 1 cars is exciting but also very stressful – where mistakes cannot be tolerated. Motorsport.com’s René Fagnan spoke to Greg Baker, Lotus F1 Team’s chief mechanic.

Baker started working for Williams Touring Car Engineering, which managed Renault's British Touring Car programme in the mid ‘90s. He then moved up to F1 with Arrows in 1997, before he joined the ranks of Renault in 2002.

As the chief mechanic, Baker has huge responsibilities in ensuring Lotus’s cars are in top shape all weekend.

“My role is to make sure that the specs of the two cars of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado are correct,” he says. “It’s also sorting out faults with cars, as well as the everyday management and dispatching work for the guys.”

He confirmed that a real love for the sport is essential to work in F1, where the demanding 19-race global calendar means plenty of long-haul flights as well as gruelling weekend schedules.

“You got to be passionate about motorsport for sure,” he adds. “If you want to work in F1, you have to be very highly motivated. You need to be able to work quickly, under pressure, and to make precise decisions as we have a limited time to work on the cars.

“It’s also 19 Grands Prix a year, and being away some 180 days out of the country.”

Baker believes that times have changed for the current breed of mechanics, compared to bygone eras.

‘The job has changed incredibly,” he confirms. “We travel a lot, we spend 10 hours in airplanes travelling economy class, and then there’s jetlag.

“Fifteen years ago you’d finish your work and go out to have a beer; whereas now, the guys finish and ask to go for a run or go to the gym. It has become more of a business now.

“The new generation of mechanics are not athletes yet, but physically they are very fit.”

A typical Grand Prix weekend

The garage is set-up in time for the cars and equipment to be delivered to the track. For the rest of the opening day, the mechanics are busy putting the cars together with all the correct components.

“If it’s a European race, we travel early Wednesday morning and normally get to the circuit around 2 pm,” says Baker. “We can be there until 11 pm as there is no curfew on Wednesday night. We try not to leave things for the Thursday.

“We then fire up the engines on the Thursday morning, and check all the systems.”

The cars are taken to technical inspection, with their Mercedes V6 power units and gearboxes installed, ahead of Friday’s running.

The mounted tires are collected from Pirelli and regrouped in sets. The drivers and engineers walk the track, while the Lotus E23 Hybrids are checked one last time by mechanics.

Then it's Friday, the first day of track action – with two 90-minute sessions of free practice.

“We usually leave the hotel around 6:30am,” he adds. “It is the busiest day of the weekend for us. We’ll probably work right until the curfew.

“We rebuild the cars at the end of FP2. We fit a race engine and a race gearbox in each car. There are also parts to swap around, and certain suspension pieces that we change because of the mileage we put on them.

“If you’re working up to the curfew, you’d be back at the hotel and get four, five hour’s sleep, and then you’re back into it again.”

The mechanics leave the hotel around 7:30am on Saturday morning and get straight into it at the track.

“The gap between FP3 and qualifying is extremely small. We need to install race exhausts, race brakes, that kind of stuff. Each circuit requires different things.

“If you get to Q3, you get the cars from parc fermé, and then you have an hour and a half to look at the cars, take the floors off, make sure they are OK, and have them rebuilt so that they look like F1 cars.

“The parc fermé procedure has made a huge difference. Going back a few years, we’d arrive on the Thursday and basically work non-stop until the Sunday night. There were several engine changes to perform, plus taking care of the third car.

“It’s a lot more regulated nowadays. At least we get some sleep now.”

Sunday is the main event

The parc fermé procedures mean that Sunday mornings aren’t as hectic than times gone by, with no warm-up session to complicate matters.

“We make sure everything’s ready, have a good look at the cars, make sure everything’s fine,” says Baker. “We cannot really work on the cars, but we can have a good look at them.”

During the race, the mechanics stay on their toes in the garage and execute tire changes. But their work doesn't end at the chequered flag.

“After the race is over on Sunday, we generally have about eight hours of work ahead of us. We pretty much strip the cars. Everything goes back to the factory in Enstone. To strip these completely takes a good four hours of work.”

For obvious reasons, the two long breaks during the year – in December and August – are welcomed warmly by the weary mechanics.

“The good thing about F1 is that we know all the dates in advance, so we can pretty much plan our whole year,” Baker concludes. “The guys know exactly when they’ll have time off.

"They spend enough time out of the country that we try to get them back home with their families as often as possible.”

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Hulkenberg joins Vettel for Team Germany in RoC

Nico Hulkenberg will partner up with fellow Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel to form an imposing German team for this year's Race of Champions, to be held at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park stadium in London.

The Force India driver became the first F1 driver in over 20 years to win Le Mans 24 Hours back in June with Porsche alongside team-mates Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber. Hulkenberg will make his debut at Race of Champions this year (20-21 November) and team up with Vettel for Team Germany in the ROC Nations Cup.

Vettel is a six-time winner of the event while racing with Michael Schumacher who is still recovering from his serious skiing accident.

Hülkenberg appreciates he has a tough act to follow and says he is incredibly proud to represent his country alongside Vettel.

“I've had a very good year so far and I'm very excited to be making my Race Of Champions debut,” Hulkenberg said. “I've always wanted to take part but it never worked out so now I'm really happy to be a part of it and looking forward to it. I'm obviously stepping into big shoes to replace Michael Schumacher, which is a huge honour as well.

“I feel very happy and positive about that and it will be fun to team up with Seb and race and fight for Team Germany. There's going to be quite a bit of car-hopping, adapting and adjusting from one machine to another. They're all quite different so I don't really know what to expect. But I guess I'll get dumped into the cold water and then I'll have to figure out how to swim.”

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Tost and Helmut Marko are the biggest flogs in the paddock

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CAN FERRARI CLOSE THE GAP ON MERCEDES IN SECOND HALF OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP?

The second half of the F1 season kicks off this weekend in Spa, Belgium. Based on what we saw in the first half, which teams have the real prospect of moving forwards and improving their competitiveness and what will the second half of the season hold?

To help bring fans a little closer to the sport, the analysis prepared here is exactly what a team will typically do for each event and is expressed in the same way. It gives an insight into the relative performance of the teams and shows trends of competitiveness, especially in qualifying pace. It has been prepared by our colleague Will Saunders, with additional insights from JA on F1 technical adviser Dominic Harlow.

Qualifying through the first half of the 2015 season has been dominated by Mercedes, with the Silver Arrows taking pole position at all ten of the Grands Prix to date.

This trend continues the pattern from 2014, when Mercedes qualified at the front at every race but one – with Felipe Massa the last man to deny Mercedes a pole position at the 2014 Austrian GP. Mercedes uniform dominance of qualifying since has left the Brackley outfit only three races short of equalling Williams’ record of 24 consecutive pole positions from 1992-93.

However, qualifying is about more than just the race for pole position. As arguably the purest measurement of outright speed across a race weekend, qualifying is key to assessing the teams’ relative performance, the rate of development between the teams, and the intra-team performance of each team’s drivers.

AVERAGE TEAM PERFORMANCE

This graph (click all graphs to enlarge) demonstrates the average team gaps to pole position at each race thus far in 2015. Mercedes position at the top of the graph demonstrates that they have qualified on pole at every race so far this season, and therefore have a team average gap of 0% to pole position.

On the right hand side, the y-axis demonstrates the average percentage behind Mercedes’ pole time that each team has qualified at each race, by taking the mean differential of the individual team drivers’ gap to pole position. For example, in Melbourne (on the far left of the graph) Sebastian Vettel qualified 1.430 seconds, or 1.66%, off Lewis Hamilton’s pole time, and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen qualified 1.463 seconds, or 1.69% behind Hamilton, for a team average of 1.68%.

There are several striking conclusions from this graph. At the front, only once has a team been able to qualify on average within 1% of Mercedes’ pole position time, with Ferrari enjoying an average deficit of 0.58% in qualifying second and fourth in Bahrain.

The ebb and flow of Mercedes’ advantage at certain circuits is also well illustrated in this chart. Bahrain and Canada demonstrate a trend for upward spikes at power circuits as Mercedes and Ferrari-engined teams reduce the average performance deficit to Mercedes due to track configurations which negate some of the W06’s performance advantage through mid- and high-speed corners. On the flipside, high downforce circuits such as Spain and Hungary play to Mercedes’ strengths, and the downward trend of most teams at these races (with the exception of Red Bull and Toro Rosso) highlights the formidable performance of the Mercedes aero package.

Behind Mercedes, the hierarchy is muddled, with eight of the remaining teams typically bunched within a fairly narrow bandwidth of performance, and team average performance fluctuating race-by-race depending on the particular strengths of the cars. For example, Force India’s early season struggles with generating downforce are illustrated by the sharp downward spike in their performance in Spain, a race in which their drivers qualified 17th and 18th – 3.684 seconds, or 4.35% (Hulkenberg) and 3.741 seconds, or 4.42% (Perez) respectively off pole for a team average gap of 4.38%.

At the back of the field, the gap to Manor is particularly startling, with the team failing to qualify on average within 3% of the next slowest car at any of the nine races they’ve qualified for to date.

However, taking the team average accentuates anomalies such as Sebastian Vettel’s failure to get out of Q1 in Canada, and best reflects the relative strengths of the teams where the drivers are on average closely matched in qualifying (e.g. Williams, Toro Rosso). To get a true reflection of ultimate pace, this second graph considers only each team’s best qualifying performance at each race.

BEST QUALIFYING PERFORMANCE VS. POLE POSITION

In this regard the differences in the configuration and fluctuation demonstrate clearly where one driver within a team has a significant performance advantage over his teammate. For example, Sebastian Vettel has outqualified Kimi Raikkonen 8-2 across the ten races to date, with an average gap of -0.561s, and accordingly the graph demonstrates that by these metrics, Ferrari have qualified within 1% of Mercedes ultimate pole position time at seven of the ten races – providing a much closer threat than their team average may suggest.

Only once, at the British GP, have Ferrari failed to provide the closest challenge to Mercedes – with Williams qualifying third and fourth at Silverstone.

Certain standout individual performances are also well illustrated in this format, when a particular driver has been able to vastly outperform either his teammate or expectations. For example, Nico Hulkenberg’s fifth place in Austria, Daniel Ricciardo’s fourth place in Hungary or Will Stevens’ effort in finishing over two seconds ahead of teammate Roberto Mehri at Silverstone (and qualifying almost 1% closer to Mercedes’ pole time than any other qualifying lap that Manor have produced across the whole season).

However, discerning patterns within the variables that constitute a natural race-to-race fluctuation is challenging. For the final assessment, we have taken a logarithmic average of the data from graph two in an attempt to demonstrate overall trends across the season.

SEASON-LONG TRENDS

This graph provides a clear overview of the relative progress of the teams throughout the season when compared to Mercedes’ pole position times – allowing us to extrapolate a rough approximation of the in-season development race.

The big movers in terms of performance are two of the teams who arguably had the most scope to progress during the season:

McLaren and Force India. Each demonstrate a clear upward trajectory in terms of qualifying pace relative to pole position, with Force India’s advances attributed to improvements leading up to the launch of the new B-spec VJM08 ahead of the British GP, and McLaren’s relative progress due primarily to ever-improving performance from the Honda engine.

As far as the front of the field is concerned, the trend lines show that Mercedes’ rivals are only making limited relative gains against the Silver Arrows – suggesting a fairly stagnant status quo among the front-running teams.

Unsurprisingly, given their relatively meagre budget, Sauber are the only team to demonstrate a downward trend in qualifying performance relative to Mercedes’ pole position times. Sauber’s increasing lack of qualifying pace is corroborated by their diminishing returns in terms of points-scoring, with 19 of the team’s 22 total points scored in the first three races.

CONCLUSIONS

So, following the trend lines through, what pointers can this assessment give for the second half of the season? Given the clear and relatively untroubled nature of their qualifying performances to date, it would be no surprise were Mercedes to continue to dominate qualifying throughout the season – should the sessions remain trouble-free. Only in the rain in Malaysia were Ferrari able to qualify within three tenths of Mercedes, and the Silver Arrows’ advantage in qualifying trim remains formidable.

Mercedes advantage over Ferrari is much larger than the gaps between any of the other teams (for example Vettel to Hamilton vs Bottas to Vettel) so there is probably more chance of Williams catching Ferrari and even more chance of Red Bull catching Williams.

To catch Mercedes in 10 Races Ferrari need to gain almost 0.1s/lap in addition to the normal development rate per event. If we assume the typical wind tunnel development targets of 1 point of downforce per week, or 2pts per event then Ferrari need to gain this plus an additional 3pts per event. So that’s 150% of Mercedes development rate. That seems impossible, based on incremental improvement with a team of a similar size. What is needed is large step changes in Power Unit development and innovation somewhere.

Williams and Red Bull have consistently been best of the rest behind Mercedes and Ferrari throughout the season, but their team average qualifying positions (7.05 and 8.30 respectively) indicate that they are very much at the mercy of fluctuating form depending on the characteristics of each circuit. Further back, Toro Rosso find themselves with a higher average qualifying position (10.30 – with both Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz sharing the same average qualifying position) than Force India and Lotus, yet behind both teams in the constructors’ standings – highlighting that the team have issues converting strong qualifying performances into consistent points finishes.

Force India made one very significant gain when they introduced their ‘B’ spec car and this affects their average development making it seem better than other teams. What has in fact happened is that they’ve rolled up a winter’s worth of development into the season average as well because they started the season with a car that was much further behind their wind tunnel programme than the other teams. With a normal budget and operation that wouldn’t have happened.

At the back of the field, Sauber have clearly struggled with development, and from having the fifth fastest car in qualifying trim at the start of the season now find themselves ahead of Manor alone in terms of pure qualifying performance. McLaren and Force India will likely see their progress plateau as they optimise their cars towards extracting the maximum from their respective packages. The trend lines project a difficult and lonely second half of the campaign for Manor though, with little sign of tangible progress relative to the performance of their rivals.

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Tost and Helmut Marko are the biggest flogs in the paddock

I agree with your comment on Helmut Marko Tost doesn't often cause waves nor stirs the pot with gossip and rumour like those at RBR. IMO, Marko and Horner are the worst of them all.

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Williams F1's Pat Symonds says big update packages 'old fashioned'

Williams technical director Pat Symonds believes the days of Formula 1 teams bringing a one-off big upgrade package to a grand prix are now gone.

Traditionally the first race of the European season in Spain and the first race after the summer break featured major upgrades on many cars.

But teams are increasingly focusing on bringing smaller updates more often, with the likes of Force India's B-spec car's debut in Britain and Williams's raft of updates in Austria exceptions to the rule.

"Austria was a bit of anomaly in a way," Symonds told AUTOSPORT.

"We don't work in a world of upgrade packages - that's old fashioned.

"It just so happened we had a number of components which happened to fit together in Austria.

"It was something as simple as having a new rear wing that wouldn't fit with the old floor, so the new floor had to come into the same time.

"It turned into a package, it was the way it worked out, but the general trend is to bring a little bit at each race and that is what we intend to do from herein."

A strong development rate was crucial to Williams's resurgent 2014 F1 season and it also made steady gains through this season, with positive correlation between the windtunnel and the track.

With nine races still to go, Symonds says Williams plans to continuing developing the current car, especially as the work can prove useful for next year's machine.

"We have plenty to come yet and have plenty already sitting in the pipeline which has been signed off and is just going through the final bits and pieces," said Symonds.

"There is still windtunnel time allocated and there is still work going on in vehicle dynamics.

"Because we don't have big upheaval between 2015 and 2016, there is a lot of evolutionary work we can do which will still be relevant. I expect us to keep pushing."

But he added that the main focus was now on next season's car.

"Our first 2016 design meeting was in January," he said. "That is point one.

"Point two is the day after the end of the season when you know everyone is working on next year's car and then there's a transition point somewhere in between.

"The point depends on a number of things, like your prospects and your position in the championship.

"It's a process we go through and it's adaptable but obviously now, there is more focus on the new car rather than the old car. We've passed that part of the transition."

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Renault capable of Ferrari-like step with F1 engine - Toro Rosso

Renault can make similar gains to those found by Ferrari with its Formula 1 engine, according to Toro Rosso technical director James Key.

The French manufacturer has taken a verbal pounding from Red Bull this year, and its team principal Christian Horner in particular, due to the performance and reliability of its engines.

With Renault currently weighing up its options as to its future beyond 2017 - and a takeover of Lotus a strong possibility - Key believes it is "in their blood" to be able to turn things around.

"They're very honest people to work with, they'll acknowledge the fact there is a bit of work to do, but they're working very hard to try and solve it, and I think they can," Key told AUTOSPORT.

"There's a bit to do, a bit of a gap, but Ferrari has made a massive step, and I'm sure Renault are capable of that too.

"We shouldn't forget they've been around and had enormous success, both as a company and as an engine supplier in F1, and it's in their blood to turn this thing around.

"With the progress they're looking at for next year there is a much more confident atmosphere than there was this time last year.

"Last season there was still shock at how everything had unfolded, and it was a case of 'Woah! OK, there's some work to do here'.

"And the beginning of this season they've had some reliability issues that have also caught them out.

"But going into next year there has been a perfect step back by a lot of the guys there, a few new faces and a feeling of 'we've got to nail it this time, so let's not get too distracted and move along'."

Key said he can appreciate the dissatisfaction felt by Red Bull over the past 18 months coming on the back of the team's four-year title-winning run from 2010-13.

"I don't blame Red Bull for getting frustrated with the situation because these guys are used to winning championships, and they're kitted up and funded to do so," he added.

"There are two teams that make their own engine [Mercedes and Ferrari] and they are positioned first and second in the championship.

"I can understand the frustration, but both sides have been working very closely together to sort it out."

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RAIKKONEN WILL REMAIN AT FERRARI FOR 2016

Ferrari’s Formula 1 driver lineup will remain unchanged next season after the Italian team ended uncertainty surrounding the future of Kimi Raikkonen on Wednesday.

“Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen,” the team said in a statement. The driver lineup next season will still consist of the Finnish driver and Sebastian Vettel.”

Raikkonen reacted, “What can I say… For me, to be able to stay another year at Ferrari means that the dream goes on. The Scuderia is my family, as I always said, it’s here I want to end my career.”

“I am more committed than ever and I want to say thank you to the people who gave me this chance. Also, a big thank you goes to all my Ferrari fans, for their continuous support,” added the man who in 2007 was the last driver to win a F1 title for the Maranello team.

Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene explained, “We believe that extending Kimi’s contract into the next season will provide further stability to the team. This has been our guideline, also considering the very good relationship between Kimi and Seb.”

“On our side, this shows our great confidence in him [Raikkonen] and I expect this confidence to be well rewarded,”concluded the Italian team boss.

Raikkonen made his Formula 1 debut in 2001 in Australia, and has since then made 222 grand prix starts – winning the F1 world title in 2007 and racking up 20 wins along the way.

Until this announcement, confirming his place at Ferrari beyond 2015, Silly Season speculation abounded regarding Raikkonen’s future with the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg and even teenage rookie Max Verstappen linked with the team as possible replacements.

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HAMILTON READY TO RUMBLE AS SEASON RESUMES IN BELGIUM

The holidays are over and Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton faces a new start as the second half of the season revs up at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit this weekend.

The rules have been tweaked, meaning drivers on the starting grid can no longer be assisted over the radio by data-crunching engineers to find the optimum clutch settings that will ensure the quickest getaway.

Hamilton, 21 points clear of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg after 10 of 19 races, has had three poor starts in a row despite all being from pole position and the big question is what difference the change will make.

Another failure in Spa, where the Mercedes drivers started on the front row last year but collided on lap two, would only make the Briton’s bosses more jittery after neither finished on the podium in Hungary in July.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff warned this week that the team must stay focused.

“There is never a moment you can take your foot off the gas and Hungary proved once again that any slip is an opportunity our rivals will grab with both hands,” he said.

After hanging out with movie and music celebrities, as well as his dogs Roscoe and Coco, in Barbados, New York and The Hamptons over the August break, Hamilton is raring to get back on track.

But he recognised after Hungary, where he finished only sixth while Rosberg was eighth, that the championship could be entering choppy waters — particularly at Spa where rain is regularly a factor.

“I expect more unpredictable starts,” Hamilton said then. “I imagine it is going to get worse, but that’s racing.”

The key difference is that the clutch ‘bite’ point, hitherto adjusted by engineers after assessing temperatures and track conditions, will be fixed from the moment the cars leave the pit lane.

The drivers will then have to determine for themselves the ideal point at which to release the paddles and accelerate away without triggering a loss of traction and wheelspin.

Rosberg, who won last season’s pole trophy but has been outqualified 9-1 by Hamilton this year, can sense an opportunity.

“There will be more variables and it will be more difficult to predict,” he said. “I like it because it gives me the opportunity to try and beat Lewis in that area. Until now it’s been difficult because it was not really in the driver’s hands.”

The German qualified on pole in Belgium last year but the race, on the longest circuit on the calendar, was won by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Hamilton, who retired while then-championship leader Rosberg finished second, accused his team mate of hitting him on purpose “to prove a point” in a controversy that proved a turning point in the season.

The fired-up Briton won the next five races and ultimately his second title.

“It’s been good to take a break from racing and spend some time relaxing, training and recharging the batteries. But, of course, there’s always that flame in the back of your mind that just wants to get back out there and get on it,” he said ahead of his return to the Ardennes.

“Spa is a great track to kick off the second part of the season…I love this track and I’ll be gunning for that top spot again.”

Rosberg, winner of three races to Hamilton’s five with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel taking the other two, said everything was still to play for.

Ferrari will be in the hunt again but Williams also fancy their chances of returning to the podium after failing to score in Hungary.

“The layout is normally strongly suited to the characteristics of our car, so I head to this weekend looking for a strong result,” said Finland’s Valtteri Bottas.

Belgian Grand Prix Stats & Facts

• Mercedes have had six one-two finishes this season and won eight of 10 races so far. Double world champion Lewis Hamilton has won five of them.
• Four-times champion Sebastian Vettel has 41 career wins, Hamilton is on 38 and Fernando Alonso 32. Kimi Raikkonen has won 20 races, Jenson Button 15 and Rosberg 11.
• Ferrari have won 223 races, McLaren 182, Williams 114 and Red Bull 50. Mercedes have won 37.
• McLaren have not won for 48 races, a run that dates back to Brazil 2012. They also went 48 races without a win from 1993-97.
• Mercedes have been on pole for the last 21 races. The record for successive poles is 24 (Williams 1992-93).
• Hamilton has been on pole in nine of the 10 races this season, two more than he took all last year, and can clinch the pole trophy this weekend. Rosberg was on pole in Spain. Hamilton has 47 career poles, Rosberg 16.
• Rosberg took 11 poles last year, when Mercedes and Williams were the only teams to start on pole. The last non-Mercedes pole was Austria, 2014.
• Ferrari’s last pole was in Germany with Alonso in 2012.
• Eight drivers from four teams have appeared on the podium this season — Hamilton, Rosberg (Mercedes), Vettel, Raikkonen (Ferrari), Valtteri Bottas, Felipe Massa (Williams), Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull).
• Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel have shared the podium in six of the races.
• Hamilton’s run of 16 successive podium finishes ended in Hungary last month, along with his hopes of matching Michael Schumacher’s record of 19 this season. Mercedes also ended their run of 28 successive podium appearances.
• Rosberg has 34 career podiums. Hamilton 79, one short of Ayrton Senna.
• Hamilton leads Rosberg by 21 points.
• Vettel has been in the points for 21 successive races. The record of 27 is held by Ferrari team mate Raikkonen.
• The two Manor Marussia drivers, Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi, are the only ones yet to score.
• Spa is the longest lap of the season and one of the fastest, with an average speed of around 230kph. Cars are flat out for about 70 percent of the time, making it the hardest circuit of the year for engines.
• The circuit has hosted 47 of the 59 Belgian GPs to date.
• Michael Schumacher won six times at Spa, more than any driver. Raikkonen has four wins there.
• There are no Formula One drivers racing with a Belgian licence at present, although Dutch teenager Max Verstappen is Belgian-born, has a Belgian mother and lives in Belgium.
• Ferrari and McLaren have both won 12 times at Spa. Red Bull have won the last two races there and three of the last four.
• Only five of the last 13 races at Spa have been won from pole position.
• Six of the current drivers have won at Spa: Button (2012), Vettel (2011 and 2013), Hamilton (2010), Raikkonen (2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009), Massa (2008) and Ricciardo (2014).
• After his victory in Hungary, Vettel is now level with the late Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna in third place on the all-time list of race winners. Only Schumacher (91) and Alain Prost (51) have more.
• Hamilton’s record of leading at least one lap of the last 18 races ended in Hungary. The Mercedes run of 28 successive races led also came to an end.

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NEW F1 START RULES A HOT TOPIC IN SPA PADDOCK

One of the hottest topics at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend will be the FIA’s new rules regarding Formula 1 race starts.

The mid-season change has divided paddock opinion, with some applauding the shift away from engineers and technology, and back to the drivers.

Others, however, worry that teams will struggle to adapt their 2015 systems to the new rules.

“The cars were not designed for this sudden change,” Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado is quoted by the Swiss newspaper Blick. “It can even be dangerous.”

His teammate Romain Grosjean told the French magazine Auto Hebdo: “Perhaps there will be more uncertainty, but the teams will work hard on it.

“I do not think the situation will change drastically. It will never be like in GP2, where the driver has full control over the starts,” he added.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen agrees that while the drivers’ workload will go up, the FIA clampdown is unlikely to prove revolutionary.

“We will have to remember to do all the right things,” he told the Finnish broadcaster MTV at a karting event in Helsinki.

“A few things will influence whether it works or does not work, but I don’t think it’s going to revolutionise things in one way or another.

“As long as we remember to do the right things, it should be pretty ok,” Raikkonen added.

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GROSJEAN: RENAULT BUYING LOTUS WILL BENEFIT F1

Romain Grosjean has admitted a buyout by Renault would be an ideal solution – for himself and Formula 1 in general – to the difficult financial situation which Lotus is in currently.

It is believed Renault and Lotus’ owner Gerard Lopez are poised to agree a deal whereby the Enstone team once again becomes the French carmaker’s works squad. Frenchman Grosjean admits 2015 has been difficult for Lotus.

“Many teams find themselves in a difficult financial situation,” he told Auto Hebdo magazine. “F1 requires huge resources and the ability to maintain the rhythm of development. Crash testing a new front wing, for example, is not very simple.”

“Unlike Red Bull or McLaren, we cannot afford to bring new items to every grand prix. I hope that this period will be as short as possible and we are able to move forward soon,” Grosjean added.

Most recently, Lotus has been fending off ‘winding up’ petitions in the High Court, and paying bills at the eleventh hour to Pirelli for the release of tyres.

“The situation is not ideal,” Grosjean admits. “But as usual the grass is not always greener somewhere else, as some people are talking a lot about Lotus and staying quiet about their own problems.

“Genii Capital has great resources but now that we are talking about the sale of the team it is logical that they do not want to invest. But this does not prevent us from coming to the races.”

Merely ‘coming to the races’, however, is not Grosjean’s aim, and so he is barracking hard for the buyout deal between Lotus and Renault to be agreed soon.

“First of all,” he said, “it will benefit formula one. I have a long association with Renault, who have played an important role in my career, when they helped me to make my debut in Formula 1.”

“After that I was fired, and it was not the best moment in our relationship, but I came back to Formula 1 and managed to win nine podiums with a Renault-powered car,” he said.

“Formula 1 needs major automakers that can invest in our sport,” Grosjean argued. “It’s great to be part of a factory team and I am sure that Renault will be able to improve their power unit.”

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BIG DROP IN F1 OVERTAKING IN 2015 COMPARED TO LAST YEAR

There has been less overtaking in Formula 1 this season compared to 2014, according to a report in Auto Motor und Sport.

The report said that last year, based on the opening ten races of the season, there were 42.6 overtaking moves on average per race. In the first half of 2015, that figure has dropped to just 29.4.

Auto Motor und Sport said the reason for the decline is changes to the front wing rules, and the difficulty drivers have in managing this year’s Pirelli tyres.

“It has become more difficult to stay close to the car in front,” confirmed Lotus driver Romain Grosjean.

F1 is now moving to address the issue of overtaking, convening technical bosses for a meeting on Tuesday to ensure the new rules for 2017 facilitate more passing. Frenchman Grosjean thinks the tyres are a key part in making F1 exciting.

“I really liked the period around 2012 and 2013,” he told the French magazine Auto Hebdo, “when tyre wear played a major role. Laptimes were good and in some corners it was possible to use all of the grip.”

“Despite what people say, it is not easier now to drive the cars, it’s just slightly easier physically. That is why rookies have managed to quickly and easily become comfortable.

“But today’s racing is not so bad,” Grosjean added. “Who could say that Hungary was not exciting?”

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RENAULT PREVIEW THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

Spa is the hardest circuit of the year for the Power Units. Over 65% of the 7km track is spent flat out, which translates as around 73secs per lap, the longest accumulative wide open throttle time of the year.

The first period of sustained throttle is the climb from the La Source hairpin to the chicane at Les Combes. It takes around 25secs with the driver flat on the throttle throughout. The distance is only slighter shorter than a runway at Charles de Gaulle airport.

Almost all of sector three is taken flat out. From Stavelot through Blanchimont to the Bus Stop chicane, the Renault Energy F1 will be at wide open throttle for 20secs. The remainder of the throttle time comes from the bursts of power between corners.

The track’s layout can be likened to a rollercoaster circuit where parts are loaded and unloaded in quick succession. The track drops over 40m from La Source before climbing over 80m back to Les Combes, equivalent to a gradient of 1 in 4. The descent compresses the internals but going over the crest of the hill, the vertical force is suddenly lifted and the parts unloaded, with the vertical forces switching to -3g. It can be equated to the feeling on a rollercoaster drop when your body feels compressed and pushed down into the seat but weightless when you go over a bump.

The altitude of Spa also affects fuel consumption. At its highest point the circuit is around 500m and the air is approximately 5% less oxygen rich than at sea level. With less oxygen going into the engine, around 1% less fuel is burned at Les Combes than at La Source.

Turbo response in Spa is one of the critical performance factors. The majority of slow corners, for example the Bus Stop chicane, Les Combes and La Source are followed by a burst of throttle. Engineers will therefore look specifically at the engine maps to bring the delay in response as close to zero as possible. In fact, the time lapse between the driver putting his foot on the throttle and the turbo kicking in is now around 0.2s

The turbo will be rotating at close to its maximum to keep pace with the high rotational speeds of the ICE. The altitude will further increase rpm. At its most extreme the turbo will be spinning at more than 95,000rpm or over 1,500 revs per second!

Spa is one of the most demanding tracks on the MGU-K. Each of the braking points comes after a long burst of power so the energy dissipated through the brakes is enormous.

The best opportunity for the MGU-K to recover energy is the Bus Stop chicane, which the driver approaches at over 300kph and brakes down to just 75kph.

At La Source, car speeds drop to just 70kph and engine revs to around 8,700rpm. The combination of MGU-K, ICE and brakes need to dissipate 2MJ of energy during this braking event – front brake temperatures will rise by more than 300°C to achieve this, even though the MGU-K is at the full recovery allowed by the regulations.

MGU-H

Sector two has the majority of corners and is therefore the least power sensitive part of the track. This pushes us to recover as much energy as possible on the MGU-H whilst maintaining good turbo response.

High-speed flowing corners such as Pouhon and Fagnes are the best opportunities and will feed the recovered energy to the MGU-K and ICE on the next period of throttle through Blanchimont.

Remi Taffin Director of Operations: “We’ve been extremely busy in the four weeks since the Hungarian Grand Prix. In contrast to the teams, who had to shut their factories, we’ve been operating throughout the summer break to continue our development programme. The dynos have run as usual and we’ve conducted some notable performance work for the rest of the season and also concepts for next year. The results are good. In parallel we have been preparing for Spa, which presents the hardest test of the year for the power units. The wide open throttle time is as high as Monza, but it’s the corners, changes of altitude and length that increase the difficulty. We are realistic about the challenge facing us and the strength of the opposition at this point in time. The double podium in Hungary – and our win last year in Spa – show anything is possible so we go there in this frame of mind: concentrate on our job, do the best we can and take advantage of the circumstances as they come about.”

Renault 2015 Fast Facts

Le saviez-vous ?

Weather is always a factor in Spa, but rain can cause issues for the contemporary power units, which are loaded with electrical systems. If water enters, these systems could short out. F1 cars are now equipped with military spec wiring but special care will be taken to insulate the systems against the humidity, with ducts fitted to divert rain away from the systems in case of torrential rain. It’s a useful precaution as it has rained in Spa every year since 2007!

Eau Rouge is the most famous turn on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. It is technically more of a left hand kink in the track as it rises from La Source and crosses the Eau Rouge stream. A blind summit and a bump on the exit make it a fiendish challenge to get right. Eau Rouge is now taken flat out at 310kph but it took until the mid-point of the V8 era for cars to have the right power-to-grip ratio to floor it through the bend. At the start of the V8s and all through the V10s drivers would lift off to scrub some speed for the entry and apex.

While qualifying is significant in every race, the length of the circuit and the multiple overtaking opportunities do not place an over-arching importance on it in Spa. In fact only three polesitters have taken victory in the last ten years.

The Renault turbo made its Spa debut in 1978. The challenges of Spa have always caused a race of attrition and it took until 1980 for Rene Arnoux to score Renault’s first finish. Alain Prost won from pole position in 1983 with Derek Warwick second in 1984. Ayrton Senna (Lotus-Renault) took the win in 1985 and came second in 1986. In the normally aspirated era, Damon Hill (Williams) and Michael Schumacher (Benetton) gave Renault consecutive wins from 1993 to 1995 before Sebastian Vettel took wins for Red Bull in 2011 and 2013. Daniel Ricciardo took the third win for the Renault Energy F1 power unit in 2014.

Focus on Belgium 1993

After a dominant championship win in 1992, the pressure was on Williams-Renault to repeat its success the following year. But it was not easy: a full driver line-up change saw Alain Prost replace the outgoing champion, Nigel Mansell, and Damon Hill step up from his test driver role. Advances in active suspension and a ban on driver aids and had also necessitated a re-work of the fêted FW14B chassis powered by the Renault engine.

The season started well enough, with Prost taking pole position in every race until the Canadian Grand Prix. Race days were more of a challenge, however, and the Senna threat was very real. Three wins apiece in six races spiced up the championship, until Prost took the advantage with four consecutive mid-season victories. Quietly, new recruit Damon Hill was also gathering momentum and sealed his first win at the Hungarian Grand Prix in mid-August. Williams had consolidated its championship leading status and it was just a matter of time before a second constructors’ crown was wrapped up.

Head of engine build, Régis Ramauge, was working on both cars in the Williams garage in 1993. He remembers arriving in Belgium as Prost and Williams edged closer to the title. ‘Spa was a classic track, even back in the early 90s. The corners were fast and flowing, and you needed to be brave. Eau Rouge could just about be taken flat if you had the right car, but the threat of an accident was never far away. Every off track excursion would have serious consequences; Alex Zanardi had had a huge crash in Friday practice that ended his season.

‘We arrived in Spa fairly confident. Alain had had a difficult race in Budapest, with some mechanical issues, but he was not far from the championship at that point, despite a strong early season challenge from Senna. Williams had built the best car again and it worked in perfect harmony with our engine.

‘Damon had taken his first victory in Hungary just two weeks before. He had been very impressive that season, stepping up from the test driver role quite easily. He was very well prepared, had done lots of kilometres, and knew the team well.

‘We went to the resplendent Spa circuit under a certain amount of pressure. Lots of people from Viry had made the trip, as well as a large delegation from Renault. Trackside, we knew that it would be tough for Alain. Damon would be strong, but Ayrton Senna too and a certain Michael Schumacher as well.

‘We took pole position relatively easily, as we had done in all the races so far. Alain kept the lead at the start from Ayrton and Damon. He was far from at ease with all the complicated electronic systems in the car, but he wasn’t called The Professor for nothing: he drove round his worries and could pull out a lead when he needed to. He looked in control until his second stop, but a slow stop dropped him back behind Damon.

‘Damon inherited the lead, while Alain fell to third behind Schumacher. He tried to get back into second, but with the championship close by he kept position. Damon held on to take the win, his second of the year. It was also the 50th win for Renault in F1. It’s a big number, but it’s funny as I don’t remember a lot of celebration about that statistic at the time. It seems that we were so dominant in the 90s that we knew we could achieve that number sooner rather than later.

‘What was important, though, was the fact we won the constructors’ championship with that result. It proved that we’d yet again built a fantastic car with Williams. Damon would win again in Italy just two weeks later, and Alain would go on to take his fourth championship in Portugal after that. It may have taken a bit longer to get the wins than the previous year, but in the end we got what we wanted.’

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NEW BUILDING AT TORO ROSSO FACTORY NOW OPERATIONAL

A new building added to Toro Rosso’s Formula 1 headquarters is now up and running in Faenza.

Omnicorse reports that, during the summer break, the Red Bull-owned team took advantage of the car development lull to set up camp at the new facility.

“This (building) means the working environment is quite good, because all the engineers are under one roof and we expect better communication, better co-operation and at the end even better performance,” said team boss Franz Tost.

Founder Gian Carlo Minardi chose Faenza, 50 kilometres southeast of Bologna, as the headquarters for his racing team, initially competing in Formula 2, at the end of the 70s.

It was usually a backmarker in formula one between 1985 and 2005, until the last owner Paul Stoddart sold to Red Bull.

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RAIKKONEN SAYS FINNISH GP UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN

Kimi Raikkonen has reacted to reports that Finland could host a grand prix in the near future by saying that he believes they are “unrealistic”.

We reported earlier in August that Bernie Ecclestone held talks during the Hungarian grand prix weekend with the former wife of Robert Lappalainen, who in the mid-90s promoted DTM races in the Finnish capital.

“He (Ecclestone) would welcome the championship to Helsinki, and showed the green light to our plan,” Marja-Leena Lappalainen confirmed to Ilta-Sanomat newspaper.

Raikkonen, F1’s Finnish veteran and the 2007 world champion, was asked about the reports this week in Helsinki, during a Ferrari sponsor event.

“I think it’s a bit of an unrealistic idea,” he was quoted as saying by the broadcaster MTV. “Of course, if someone has put the right amount of money in Bernie’s pocket, then it could happen even next year.”

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Ricciardo: Last year was no fluke

Daniel Ricciardo has been unable to replicate his 2014 success this year, but the Australian believes he has done more than enough to convince people he is the real deal.

Having replaced his compatriot Mark Webber at Red Bull at the start of last year, Ricciardo outperformed his more illustrious team-mate Sebastian Vettel as he claimed three race victories and finished third in the Drivers' Championship.

This year has been a different story as Red Bull and Renault have once again struggled to make up ground on pace-setters Mercedes and he had to wait until the 10th race of the campaign to finally appear on the podium.

The 26-year-old, though, believes his performances last year should "carry him through for a few years".

"I know last year wasn't a fluke," he told Autosport. "If I'd just won one race and only beat Seb a handful of times I'd say 'OK maybe I got lucky here and there'.

"But the consistency of my performance last year has definitely given me all the confidence in myself that I need.

"In a way, the more recent your success is, the more people will remember it.

"But what I did last year is still carrying me through this year, so even if this year goes bad I'm sure there would still be interest in me after this year.

"Maybe if next year is not great either, then maybe some people will start to forget.

"That said, the people that understand the sport, pretty much all the big people in the sport, I'm sure they know a good driver when they see one.

"I proved that last year and that will at least carry me through for a few years and then by that stage I'm sure we'll have a competitive machine again."

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Force India in 'good shape' for Spa

Force India finished the first half of the 2015 season with a double DNF, but team principal Vijay Mallya feels they have what it takes to bounce back at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Having picked up eight points at the British GP following the introduction of their B-spec VJM08, the Silverstone-based squad headed to Hungary on a high.

However, they had a bit of a nightmare from start to finish at the Hungaroring as Sergio Perez was involved in a serious accident in Friday practice and the team then opted to sit out FP2 as a result.

Although both drivers returned for qualifying, they had a race day to forget as Nico Hulkenberg went straight into the barriers after his front wing broke and went under the car while Perez retired due to a problem with his brakes.

The team, though, have had plenty of time to reflect on what went wrong in Hungary and Mallya is confident they can put things right when the action resumes at Spa this weekend.

"The summer break has given us a chance to regroup following a challenging race in Budapest," he said. "The whole team has worked extremely hard to repair the cars and solve the problems that we encountered in Hungary, and we're ready to bounce back this weekend in Spa.

"Although the Hungarian Grand Prix was disappointing, I prefer to focus on the positives, especially the strong pace we showed in the first half of the race. We saw that the VJM08 is capable of running comfortably inside the top ten, which gives us confidence for the second half of the season. There remains an upbeat feeling in the team and I think we can look forward to some competitive races to come.

He added: "We expect to be in good shape this weekend and we will be aiming for Q3 on Saturday and good points on Sunday."

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F1 likely to return to ground-effect cars in 2017

Following a meeting of team technical bosses on Tuesday, it's been agreed that returning to ground-effect cars would be the best option to ensure overtaking is maximised whilst allowing for greater speeds.

A mandate to increase performance, achieving laps "five to six seconds" quicker, was set by the F1 Strategy Group earlier this year, leading to a future overhaul of the sport in 2017.

As part of the changes, team bosses also want an increase in natural overtaking. To do this, it's likely that the ground-effect route will be followed, putting less reliance on the front-wing to create downforce.

Is the past now the future of F1?

By moving to a simpler front-wing, combined with a floor that creates substantial amounts of downforce, 'dirty air' - the turbulent air coming off a car ahead - no longer becomes a major problem.

This is a technology used during the late 1970's and early 80's, but was outlawed as cars became too quick and were deemed dangerous.

To avoid a similar scenario, a standard floor could be used to avoid teams developing the area. This is an idea put forward by Force India, though it's unclear if it has much support amongst the larger teams.

The cars will likely be wider, whilst McLaren's Eric Boullier confirmed that a wider and lower rear-wing will also be included in the regulations, to help balance the car due to the loss of downforce created by the less complicated front-wings.

Technical bosses are due to meet again to begin finalising plans for 2017 before draft rules will need to be written and agreed before March 2016.

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Why Rosberg must strike back at Spa

We're now into the second half of the Formula 1 World Championship and it's showtime for Nico Rosberg's title aspirations.

And so to Spa. Nestled in Belgium's Ardennes forest, this majestic, all-time classic racetrack simply oozes Formula 1 history – most recently last year’s incendiary collision between Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

“Nico hit me, Nico’s hit me!” Hamilton’s incredulous cry on the radio lingers in the memory 12 months on. The blue touch paper was lit that day.

Hamilton: indignant – he believed he was a victim of foul play, just as he'd thought in Monaco, and went on record as saying it was “do or die” after that.

Rosberg: indignity – many who gave him the benefit of the doubt for that Q3 mishap in Monte Carlo suddenly changed their mind, and maybe he really could be ‘Nasty Nico’ after all. The boos on the podium said it all.

It was a seminal moment, followed by a hot streak of five victories by Hamilton (although Rosberg was cruelly jinxed by that weird Singapore steering column/electrical failure) that sealed the Briton’s second world title.

Lewis fed on his frustration, channeling a negative into a positive, while Nico wore that loss of dignity like an ill-fitting jerkin – he looked uncomfortable and error-ridden until the final two races of the season, when his mojo appeared to return.

Time to strike back, Nico

Following the mid-season break, it’s crucial for the World Championship fight that Rosberg doesn’t haemorrhage any more ground to Hamilton – and begins to turn things around.

Sure, it would have been a different story had Rosberg not punctured a rear tyre against the front wing of Daniel Ricciardo in Budapest. But instead of taking the points lead, as he seemed poised to do, he lags 21 in arrears.

He needs the sort of performance like he produced at Interlagos last year, exerting the kind of pressure on Hamilton that will force mistakes – as Lewis made on raceday there while giving chase.

Rosberg has proved he’s got what it takes to rival Hamilton, and now has the greatest stage of all – Spa-Francorchamps – to show he can defeat him. Nico beat Lewis to pole by a fifth of a second last year, only to fluff his start and drop to third – behind Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

He can rely only upon himself to swing the Mercedes pendulum back in his favour, as Hamilton made plenty of unforced errors in Hungary and still managed to extend his advantage.

Jokers in the pack?

Vettel again is the wildcard here: buoyed by his recent victory in Hungary, he will have enjoyed his summer break more than anyone. Then you have Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, with some payback due, I think, to the faith of Maurizio Arrivabene in awarding him with a 2016 contract that some think is more deserving of Valtteri Bottas or Nico Hulkenberg.

Kimi is often at his best around Spa, so any slip-up by either of the Mercedes drivers will be punished almost as harshly as it was at the Hungaroring.

And while the Renault-powered cars get written-off at this power track, a super-skinny aero setup last year meant the Red Bulls were actually quick in a straightline last year – and Daniel Ricciardo drove his like a demon 12 months ago for that famous victory.

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FORMULA 1 stat attack: Vettel and Alonso level on points

Heading into the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso have incredibly both scored the same number of points in their Formula 1 careers.

Although dramatic change to Formula 1’s scoring system since 2010 has had the effect of skewing the all-time statistics, there’s one very interesting statistic worth noting as the sport reconvenes after the summer break at Spa.

Heading into the Belgian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are the two drivers to have scored the highest number of points during their careers.

Not only that, but both have scored the exact same number of points with 1,778.

All-time points scorers:

1: Fernando Alonso - 1778 points

2: Sebastian Vettel - 1778 points

3: Lewis Hamilton - 1688 points

4: Michael Schumacher - 1566 points

5: Jenson Button - 1204 points

6: Kimi Raikkonen - 1100 points

7: Nico Rosberg - 1068.5 points

8: Mark Webber - 1047.5 points

9: Felipe Massa - 1024 points

10: Alain Prost - 798.5 points

Alonso has taken 243 Grand Prix starts to reach that tally, versus only 149 for Vettel, but the German has collected most of his points after the change to award 25 points for a win instead of 10, as was the case prior to 2010.

Vettel’s recent win in Hungary was the 41st of his career, matching the score of three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna.

Could Hamilton beat Senna’s tally?

During the second half of the 2015 season, it will be interesting to see which of Hamilton or Vettel will be first to beat Ayrton Senna’s mark.

Despite being three race wins behind on 38, Hamilton seems to have the upper hand when it comes to matching the legendary Brazilian, having won five races in 2015 to Vettel’s two.

It also seems inevitable that Hamilton will soon move in front of Alonso and Vettel in the record books for the highest number of points scored.

The Mercedes driver has scored 1,688 points during his 158 Grands Prix, and stands just 90 points behind his two rivals.

It is also amazing to note that Michael Schumacher – who had his greatest successes at a time when race winners were awarded far less points – still lies fourth in the points standings with 1,566 points, having racked up a seemingly insurmountable total of 91 victories. With the current points awarded for race wins, Schumacher would have a score of 2,275 points (For P1 results alone!).

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Haas could open up US market for F1 - de Ferran

Formula 1 has the opportunity to make a significant breakthrough in the American market with the arrival of Haas, claims former driver and team owner Gil de Ferran.

Haas is due to join the grid next year after forging a close technical partnership with Ferrari, which will be supplying engines and other car parts.

De Ferran, who has good knowledge of both American racing and F1, believes that the Haas name will be perfect for spreading awareness of the sport throughout the United States.

"It is going to raise the interest [in F1]," De Ferran told Motorsport.com. "You can see that there is always a certain amount of national pride that is associated with F1 drivers, F1 teams, or F1 constructors.

"The Japanese feel very strong about Honda's participation. The Italians likewise about Ferrari. In Britain, you can see everyone goes to watch Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. So there is always an amount of national pride.

"So given the fact that Haas has a heritage in US motorsport, it means there is already a following there. I think it will be good for F1, because quite frankly it is the one major market that F1 hasn't conquered to a high degree.

"I think it won't be achieved overnight, but having an American team will help. Having a successful American driver will also help."

Capitalise on opportunity

De Ferran believes that a breakthrough in the United States market will not be automatic, though, and it will need F1's chiefs to push hard to capitalise on the Haas opportunity.

"Look what happened when IndyCar went to Brazil," he said. "Of course you had Emerson [Fittipaldi] and guys like myself, Tony [Kanaan] and Helio (Castroneves]. So there were several years of Brazilian drivers in IndyCar, racing in IndyCar.

"For some years it had a very good TV package, then it had race in Brazil, and that is when it achieved its peak of popularity. There is no magic bullet – and there are all these elements that need to come together.

"At the end of the day you have to promote well. Even projects like Safe is Fast [of which de Ferran is an ambassador] – you see crossover between Europe and America. In reality, motorsport needs to attract people from everywhere."

Safe is fast

Safe is Fast is an online guidance programme aimed at helping young drivers further their careers in motorsport.

It offers online tutorials and gives rising stars the chance to get questions answered by leading stars and industry professionals.

De Ferran believe that such a programme has helped in accelerating the careers of many drivers.

"I wish something like this was around when I was starting, as you really had very little information then," he said.

"These are current guys talking about lots of thing: safety, driving technique and how to present yourself. It would have accelerated my career much quicker if I had had it when I was beginning."

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Spa starts: Always an F1 driver's nightmare

It's somehow appropriate that the fancy footwork required for F1's revised starting techniques should come into play at Spa-Francorchamps. Of course, clutch work is more about hand and foot coordination these days but Spa nevertheless has been one of the more difficult starting places on the grand prix calendar.

Nico Rosberg reckons the revised rules, placing more onus on the driver, will make the starts more unpredictable - which is another way of saying he hopes this presents a chance of getting the jump on Lewis Hamilton who seems to have a season pass for parking on pole.

Basically, there is less opportunity to adjust clutch bite points once the car has left the garage en route to the grid. A casualty, it seems to me, will be the likes of Martin Brundle, David Coulthard and other unemployed F1 drivers-cum-TV presenters as they try to carry out interviews on the grid. With restrictions placed on communication while the car is on the move, the driver and his engineer will be huddled in serious conversation from the moment he steps from the cockpit and, perhaps more awkwardly, while walking briskly to the pits for a final comfort break.

As I said, Spa has never been easy thanks to the brief charge to the first corner and Collision Central at La Source. Before that, in the days when the pits and grid were on the downhill run to Eau Rouge, it was all about stopping the car rather than starting it. Positioning of the brake and throttle was critical as the driver was hard on the middle pedal with the left side of his right foot while blipping the throttle with the other side. Meanwhile, the left foot would be feeling for the bite point in the days when F1 cars had a clutch pedal. Just as well jump-start sensors were not in evidence back then as half of the grid would have been penalised for inadvertently rolling even the smallest fraction.

We're talking about a time when rules were either more relaxed or simply didn't exist. Monza would be a classic for the turning of a blind eye, Ferrari's Clay Regazzoni frequently making full use of the situation when a couples of row back by being flat out in second gear and powering past the pole position man as the starter dropped the Italian flag.

There were other occasions when sheer practicality dictated start strategy, as I discovered when researching a book* on F1 tracks. The Monsanto circuit was used just once to host the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1959. A magnificent combination of roads rising and falling through parkland above Lisbon, Monsanto had a starting grid with a gentle rise.

Concerned about a dodgy clutch, Jack Brabham used the simple expedient of placing a rock behind one of the rear wheels on his Cooper-Climax. No one said anything, least of all Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney, lining up respectively in a BRM and Ferrari behind Brabham. Having been brought up on the dirt tracks of Australia, Brabham never gave it a second thought. Or, knowing crafty Jack, he probably did. Either way, flying rocks were apparently an acceptable hazard of the day.

Can you imagine that now?

"Okay Lewis: Plan B, brake bias three, purple four, torque seven minus six - and watch out for Raikkonen who has his left-rear wedged on an empty Vodka bottle."

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Boullier admits McLaren needs to wait for Singapore

McLaren-Honda racing director Eric Boullier has dangled a carrot for fans of the team waiting for a return to form, but only after admitting that the next couple of races are not ones to look forward to.

Although Honda is due to introduce an upgraded version of its V6 turbo engine at Spa-Francorchamps, the team has largely written off its chances in both Belgium and Italy, preferring instead to look further ahead, to the first of the late-season 'flyaways'.

"Spa is a truly spectacular circuit - arguably the best on the calendar for many - but, given the unique power and downforce package required, the track won't play to our strengths,” Boullier confirmed, “Therefore, of course, we must be measured in our optimism, and we will need to wait for Singapore and beyond before we can see the fruits of our labours reflected on track."

The Belgian round marks the first F1 action for nearly a month, as the sport shut down for its traditional summer break immediately after the Hungarian Grand Prix. While that allowed McLaren a longer-than-usual chance to bask in the glory of its Budapest achievement – where Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button secured fifth and ninth places – it is back to business this weekend, with McLaren keen to see what Honda's unaffected efforts have produced during the hiatus.

"After a well-deserved summer break for the whole team, we're all ready and raring to go at the start of the second half of the season,” Boullier continued, “We had an encouraging race in Hungary and we now feel refreshed and determined to continue improving our form as the rest of the season progresses.

"In the second half of the season, our fight towards the front will continue, and we'll work hard to build on our steady, solid progress in pursuit of performance. Our drivers have been unwavering in their support and are working hard to keep pushing us forward, extracting the maximum from the package at every opportunity and we've persevered through some tough moments. The positivity and steadfast commitment to McLaren-Honda's future success are evident in every single member of this team.”

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Talks between Williams F1 team and Valtteri Bottas "positive"

Valtteri Bottas's manager Didier Coton has confirmed "positive" discussions remain ongoing with Williams with regard to the Finn's future with the Formula 1 team.

Over the past few months Bottas has been linked with a drive for Ferrari for next season as a potential replacement for Kimi Raikkonen.

But with the Scuderia finally ending the speculation surrounding the Raikkonen by taking up the option in his contract for 2016, one avenue of opportunity has been removed for Bottas.

Coton, however, has told AUTOSPORT the situation as far as he is concerned remains unaltered as he continues to focus on talks with Williams.

"Ferrari has made a decision, and that's fine, but for us it doesn't change things," said Coton. "Why would it?

"I've said many times it was nothing to do with us because Maurizio [Arrivabene, Ferrari team principal] has been very clear in the past.

"He often said he wanted to assess the situation with Kimi, and when he had done that he would make a decision, and now he has made a decision.

"From my side we have also been very clear that the team [Williams] has an option on Valtteri, which is no big secret.

"The discussions on that with Williams started a long time ago. We didn't wait for all these rumours to start doing our job."

Coton confirmed nothing has yet been finalised with Williams, but he is happy with the way negotiations have so far progressed.

"Honestly, I've no idea as to when they will announce anything," added Coton.

"It depends on whatever it depends on. It is up to the team.

"All I can say is I have discussions ongoing with Claire [Williams, deputy team principal] and the board, and they are all positive."

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VETTEL: WE WANT TO MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

Quadruple Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel has vowed to keep his foot to the floor on his outside shot at the 2015 world championship.

Having entered the break with a second win of the season, Vettel has now been buoyed by the news that his preferred choice as Ferrari teammate is staying put for 2016.

“Kimi is straightforward and cool,” the German told the Berliner Kurier newspaper as he attended a sponsor appointment at the Cologne Bonn airport before travelling to Belgium. “We get on well together.”

Ferrari figures including Vettel have played down their chances of beating the more competitive Mercedes to this year’s championships. But Vettel said that does not mean he is giving up.

“We will give everything all the way to the end,” he is quoted by DPA news agency. “We want to make the impossible possible.

“If there is a chance, then we need to keep it alive,” he added.

“The victory in Budapest was a surprise but it gave us all a boost,” said the former quadruple world champion, who lies 41 points behind Lewis Hamilton’s title lead.

“We are not in the favourite’s role yet, but we want to change that in the future. We will do everything to continue to annoy Mercedes,” added Vettel.

This weekend in Belgium will be Vettel’s 150th career grand prix, “When I saw the paint on the car I realised it is Ferrari’s 900th race. And it’s my 150th, which I also didn’t realise as I was not counting.”

“This race will be the replacement for my missing home grand prix,” added the German.