It’s been four long weeks, but Formula One is back in action with the Belgian Grand Prix next on the calendar. Spa hosts one of the highlights of the season, a favourite with many of the drivers, thanks to an impressive and challenging circuit mixed with changeable conditions.

With teams coming back from their enforced two week shutdown, they’ll be keen to get back to work and implementing their last few updates before attention turns to next year’s car. Drivers will also be relaxed and refreshed after their beach holidays, and ready to start challenging Vettel for the lead. Maybe.

Event Schedule

Sebastian Vettel maintains a healthy lead on the championship, but behind him, three drivers have an intriguing battle for second place – Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are all within touching distance of each other. Vettel had been succumbing to some bad luck before the break, only winning one of the last five races. Will the summer holiday have kept the momentum against him, or will he be back for a fresh start?

Further back, there are rumours that Nick Heidfeld will be replaced by Bruno Senna this weekend, with Renault turning an eye on to their future driver line-ups. Sauber have the continuity of knowing they will keep their drivers through next year as well, whilst Lotus have to deal with their boss’ new found attention on football.

The Weather

Early forecasts look to suggest that there won’t be rain on race day, which seems like a completely crazy idea. No rain at Spa? There would be something up with the universe. However, there is precipitation predicted for the previous two days, so changeable conditions will likely be the name of the game.

Circuit Map

Credit: FIA

The Circuit

Spa offers plenty of challenges for drivers, not least because it’s the longest track on the calendar, at just over 7km. Spa is the best example of a circuit where it can be raining at one side but completely dry on the other, which will mean tyre strategy coming into play once more.

There are plenty of long straights along the way, but punctuated by high speed corners with high G forces involved. Top speeds can reach over 320kph, whilst the pitlane loss is somewhere around 18 seconds.

Tyre Compounds

Super soft and Soft compounds