Formula One championship contenders ready for final run
Formula One resumes this weekend for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, after a three-week summer break, and the drivers have had time to relax and not think about racing.
Well, some of them at least.
The championship resumes with Red Bull’s Mark Webber leading the drivers’ standings, with only 20 points separating him, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.
For Webber, he was glad to have the time off ahead of a crucial period in his career.
“The most important thing for me during the break is to stay away from planes and hotels, as the last part of the championship includes plenty of those,” he said. “The break helps the drivers get refreshed, away from the travel and the hotels - it’s not the driving that makes us tired.”
Webber’s teammate Sebastian Vettel admits he couldn’t take his mind off the fight, but welcomed the scheduled break. “The long break allows you to do more scheduled training, as when there are races every other week it’s difficult to improve your level of fitness,” said the German.
“I tried to switch off for the first part of the holiday, and then did some more intensive training in the second half, in order to be well prepared for the reminder of the season,” he added.
Hamilton is eager to get back into the car and help McLaren catch up with the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull. “Although it’s been great for the whole team to have had the factory shutdown and a well-deserved holiday, I think we’re all really looking forward to getting back into the title fight,” he said.
The Briton was fined £288 this week for performing “burnout” and “fishtail” tricks in a borrowed Mercedes before the Australian Grand Prix in March, with the magistrate saying Hamilton behaved “like a hoon.” The fine is nothing to Hamilton considering he is on a salary close to around £13million a year.
Back on the track, the 25-year old is focusing on the last seven races of the season.
“The break gave us some valuable thinking time to consider how to improve our car for the remainder of the season - and we head into these two races not only optimistic of some better results, but also of stronger pace for the rest of the year,” Hamilton said.
Before the break, Alonso won the German Grand Prix, albeit in controversial circumstances- where Ferrari gave a team order to fellow driver Felipe Massa to let Alonso through and were fined $100,000- and came second in Hungary. The Spaniard hopes to keep the momentum going.
“I have a good feeling following on from the positive results obtained in Germany and Hungary,” said the double world champion. As the saying goes, we have to keep the momentum and that should be our aim in Spa, to ensure we carry on the way we started just before the holidays,” said Alonso.
Reigning world champion Jenson Button didn’t put his feet up. Instead, he was competing once again in the London triathlon and finished in a time of two hours, 14 minutes and 14 seconds. It was one way for him to try and take his mind off trying to retain his world title.
For the drivers who are not involved in the five-way battle for the championship, they had plenty of time to have a holiday.
Toro Rosso’s Jaime Algeursauri enjoyed his time off, as he went back to his home in Barcelona, then went on trips to Ibiza, Austria and Italy. “[I] didn’t do very much apart from some training, but then the holiday really began as I spent the next four days in Ibiza, which is where our family usually head for in the summer. I DJ’ed while I was there and had a good time, totally disconnecting from racing for a short while, spending time with friends and family,” he said.
The young Spaniard was in Austria for a Red Bull evaluation, and then went to Italy with his girlfriend.
Although he is not fighting for the world championship, like Vettel, he couldn’t switch off from racing either. “Even if we have had three weeks without a race, I have thought about Formula One every single day - it’s impossible not to.”
Vitaly Petrov is under pressure at Renault to keep his seat for next season, but the Russian didn’t let that stop him from having a break. “[I took some time] to relax and saw my family and friends,” he said. “Then I did some sports: water-skiing, jet-skiing and football, just to have some fun. It was nice to have a break and get refreshed, but I'm always ready to get back in the car.”
The holiday season is over, and now racing is the priority in the last seven races.
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