With nine races in 12 weeks, the 2016 Formula One calendar will wind down to a hectic finish. The Belgian Grand Prix weekend has barely gone past and the Italian GP is upon us, with Lewis Hamilton recovering from his engine woes and making a charge for pole on Saturday. Here are the talking points ahead of Sunday’s race.
1. Lighting up the championship
Initially, Hamilton was expected to take a 30-place grid penalty at Spa-Francorchamps. But it topped out at 55 places, for Mercedes decided to go the whole hog and provided him with three fresh engines for the remainder of the season. Despite this, the two-time defending world champion started 21st at the 2016 Belgian GP, with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso starting 22nd (last) with a 60-place grid penalty for engine and related changes.
Under the current set of rules, these engine penalties are indeed a farce. But that is a debate for another day. It surely made for an interesting race though, as Nico Rosberg started on pole and drove to a sure-shot victory at Spa. Meanwhile, Hamilton drove a fine race and aided by safety car interventions, finished third, thus managing to maintain a nine-point lead over his teammate.
It was a weekend when he was expected to lose his 19-point lead, and yet managed to come away placed first in the world championship. This surely has lit up their duel, and maybe tipped the scale in favour of Hamilton. He is a different beast in that Mercedes car when not inhibited by penalties or championship points, and leaves Rosberg in his wake.
It could be seen in the manner he took P1 at Monza on Saturday, blitzing the field with a stunning lap in Q3. It equalled the five-pole record here by Juan Manuel Fangio and Ayrton Senna. Most importantly, he was 0.478 seconds ahead of Rosberg, and 0.837 seconds ahead of third-placed Sebastian Vettel. That is a huge margin on a circuit with six corners.
2. The Ferrari question
The Italian GP is the one where the Tifosi (the Ferrari fans) – and their expectations from the team – come into prominence, as will be seen during the chequered flag ceremony on Sunday. With the summer break just ended, and the second half of the season underway, it is also a time in every F1 calendar year when Ferrari’s performance comes under the scanner. And the 2016 report card does not look so good.
With Sebastian Vettel coming on board in 2015, and finishing third in the championship with three wins, this season was supposed to be an intense challenge to the Mercedes. The Scuderia were expected to make a step-up in performance and Vettel was expected to be fighting it out with the two Mercedes drivers. Instead, he has been out-paced regularly by teammate Kimi Raikkonen, and Ferrari are yet to win a race this season.
It is easy to say that things have not gone as per plan, and the aforementioned gap in pace to Hamilton in qualifying only underlines their shortcomings. However, the main take-away from this poor performance is the question mark over the relationship between Vettel and Ferrari. When they brought him in place of Fernando Alonso, the official word was that this partnership was one for the future. Yet, less than two seasons later, the two parties are being forced to fend off rumours pertaining to the four-time driver looking for fresh pastures when his three-year contract expires.
Vettel has another year to run in his current term with Ferrari, and the team will want him to continue long after that. With four titles already under his belt, he can endure this relationship a tad longer. But Ferrari must deliver in 2017, in terms of promise and performance, to persuade his commitment. If that means shifting focus to next season and giving up on further podiums (forget race wins) in 2016 already, so be it.
3. Mad Max
There can be no doubt that young Max Verstappen was out of line in the Belgian GP. When a driver suggests that his overtaking aggression, or defence as in this case, was borne out of revenge for incidents that happened earlier in the race, it makes a case for him to be banished from the event.
Indeed, it has come to light that race director Charlie Whiting wanted to issue a black-and-white (warning) flag to the 18-year-old last weekend. Reports suggest that he has indeed been given a talking-to ahead of this race weekend.
And so, the Red Bull Racing youngster will be in the spotlight at Monza, a high-speed circuit where idiotic moves under braking have no place. His best reply to all the criticism would be to showcase his racing prowess, maybe overtake both Ferrari drivers (ahead of him on the starting grid) cleanly and keep them behind him, for the Scuderia and Red Bull look evenly matched this weekend.
It would rile up the Tifosi to no end of course, but more importantly, would also brighten up Sunday’s race, which Hamilton ought to win in predictable fashion barring any technical glitches.