As the F1 season returns from its three week summer break, British fans will get to see if Hamilton, Alonso or Raikkonen can take the fight to Vettel to stop him winning yet another World Championship – and if Grosjean can finally deliver on a race win – rather than a dramatic crash!
If you combine Hamilton winning last time out to finally convert his blistering qualifying pace into a proper haul of points with Raikkonen’s consistency and Alonso’s undeniable skills with a not-very-fast car, then you can see a chance that Vettel won’t run away with the 2013 championship. Despite the fact that the Red Bull car is not as far ahead of the other teams as it has been in recent years, Vettel has extended his championship lead by an average of 3.8 points over the first 10 races.
If Mercedes, Lotus and/or Ferrari can take advantage of Red Bull’s lack of success at Spa and Monza in recent years and thus cut into Vettel’s lead, then maybe we will have an exciting run through to the end of the season. If not, Vettel could be World Champion (again) by Abu Dhabi.
The summer break is a slightly weird time for F1. The teams have to close their factories down for two weeks as part of the FIA’s cost saving measures. As a result the development race pauses. In terms of an exciting second half of the season that may not be such a bad thing. If the recent form book, excluding tyre dramas, can be relied upon, then Mercedes and Lotus will be mixing it up with Red Bull and Ferrari can never be discounted – even if the car seems a little slow to date.
Spa is hugely popular with UK F1 fans. Many thousands drive to the continent for Spa, as they do for Le Mans, but for those of us staying in the UK for the Bank Holiday weekend, we can enjoy watching the race live on both Sky and BBC1. And on Bank Holiday Monday, Daytona are offering something new for race fans – with all Open Races at all of our circuits featuring “Winner Stays On”!
Simply book yourself into one of our D-Sprint Open races on Monday and if you win, then you get free entry to the following race. if that isnt good enough, we are offering 25% off races and off Arrive&Drive for Adults and Juniors all day too! Book online at www.daytona.co.uk
Jim Graham
Team Daytona