Belgian GP – Preview. It is hard to get excited about a race when you are not sure if the joint favourites are even going to run. As I write, the FIA are having the big hearing into the ‘spying’ scandal, which is something of a misnomer as it suggests that McLaren have been actively pursuing secrets from Ferrari. The fact is that a McLaren employee was given information from a Ferrari employee, hardly the definition of spying. However, the FIA have been cajoled into reviewing the case by Ferrari who have ‘new evidence’ that will prove that McLaren have been benefiting from information received. It is par for the course that Ferrari get want they want from the FIA so it is just a matter of what kind of punishment is handed out. That is anyone’s guess, but there is talk of McLaren being thrown out of the Championship for this year and next year. A very harsh and unlikely scenario in my opinion as the punishment has to fit the crime, if not expect McLaren to take the FIA to a civil court and the whole sport start to fall like a house of cards. Lets be honest, F1 is an incestuous business and people move form team to team and take with them intellectual property, whether this is in their heads or on computer disc’s. It has always been so and always will. The FIA could be making a rod for their own backs if they decide to come down too hard on McLaren. There is already talk of Renault using data from McLaren taken by an employee last season, and of course there were two Toyota employees found guilty in a civil court of stealing data form Ferrari in 2005, a fact that just seemed to pass by the FIA. Mr. Mosley and co. can be judge and jury in their own sport, but they in turn are answerable in a civil court and if McLaren are left feeling that they have been the victim of a great injustice, expect this sorry tale to get completely out of hand. Hopefully common sense will prevail and McLaren will be treated proportionally to any ‘crime’ committed, but whether that would be enough to satisfy the vindictive Mr. Todt at Ferrari is another question. I was optimistic of a reasonable outcome when Mr. Eccelstone arrived in court. He is the man that can get this sorted out behind closed doors, give McLaren some pain, take some points of them, or a short ban, allowing Ferrari back into the race and set up a hum dinger final couple of races. That makes sense does it not? As it stands, it is difficult to go for an outright winner of the race, unless you strongly favour Ferrari. Backing a McLaren to win is not wise at this point as there is a realistic chance that they will not be racing this weekend. If they do, it looks like being an intriguing battle. Ferrari had a 1-2 finish in Turkey, but then got well and truly humped at home in Monza, where McLaren enjoyed what was a particularly sweet 1-2 of their own. Ferrari have admitted that their car just could not cope with the kerbs at Monza and they are very confident that they will be much stronger at Spa. McLaren have made good progress recently, always go well on this track and both teams can rightly come here hoping for a 1-2 finish. Spa is a drivers circuit were the cream rises to the top, a good driver in a not so good car can make a difference and as far as the top 3 teams are concerned, they have good drivers who should see the top six places filled by the usual suspects. The remaining two places will be keenly fought over, but of course there might be four points positions up for grabs, if McLaren do get a ban. All things considered, it looks best to see what is the outcome of the meeting in Paris and to be honest there is nothing of interest on offer at present. Some bookies have not even priced up the event, so this looks like a weekend were the betting will be done mostly on Sunday. Friday Update. Well, the FIA have had their kangaroo court on Thursday and as I write the real fallout is just about registering on the F1 worlds radar. Let’s just say that truth is stranger than fiction and the fact that Alonso still has his knee caps in the right place just proves that Ron Denis is a poof. While the big girls have been fighting in the playground, there was some track action today which did have one big difference to most Fridays. Toyota were the clear 3rd best team. The slot usually filled by BMW was well and Trulli filled by the sports biggest under achievers. I have had it in the back of my mind that Toyota could be a team to follow in the last few races of this season. The main reason is that they have underperformed again but the next race after Spa will be at the revamped Fuji circuit, which is owned by Toyota. Just as Honda used to try and get a big result at their Suzuka track, Toyota will be no different. Make no mistake, the Toyota boys really must deliver some goods to justify one of the biggest budgets in the history of the sport. Humiliation at home and the management might quite rightly be expected to do the right thing……Hari Kari. I am not sure about the Fuji circuit but at Spa they have a great qualifier in Trulli, and a bit of a track specialist in fat Ralf. He is not anyone’s cup of tea, but fat Ralf does know how to get an F1 car round this very tricky and demanding circuit. From his eight starts here he has managed six top 7 finishes. While the likes of Williams and Renault have admitted that they are no longer interested in developing this years car due to the budget being focused on the 2008 car, Toyota have yet to peak, and this is the race before the big home race. Despite the worry that their start system is the worst in F1, it looks a decent bet to back track specialist Ralf Schumacher to finish in the points. 4 points Ralf Schumacher to finish in the points @ 9/4 with SportingBet, Extrabet lost 4 points |
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