5 Bold Predictions for the Second Half of the Formula 1 Season
Formula One's summer holiday is coming to an end.
After a four-week break, the 2015 season will resume at the Belgian Grand Prix on August 23, sparking a run of nine races in a three-month period.
The action will come thick and fast, which is just what F1 needs after the first 10 races of the campaign generally failed to live up to expectations, with Lewis Hamilton establishing an early points advantage and Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel and Co. only occasionally challenging the British driver.
But as the tension mounts, and with every race having the potential to make or break a driver and team's year, the second half of a given season usually delivers plenty of excitement and drama.
We're expecting that to be the case this year, and with the Spa-Francorchamps event fast approaching, here are five bold predictions for the remaining nine grands prix.
Lewis Hamilton Will Secure His 3rd Title in Brazil
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Comparisons between Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna, one of the greatest athletes who ever lived, can be borderline insulting.
Yet, there is a possibility that the British driver could equal Senna's tally of three world championships in the Brazilian's homeland on November 15.
Hamilton has never made a secret of his desire to match the former Lotus, McLaren and Williams driver's records, and on the eve of the 2015 campaign, he told the Mail on Sunday's Jonathan McEvoy:
"The only landmark as a kid was watching Ayrton.
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He had three titles and, even though I don’t really look at numbers and records, I always said that I wanted three; to match Ayrton. So if I have a third world championship, I would feel closer to him, although it was another era. I don’t think anyone is as good as him, but it would still be a nice feeling.
With a 21-point lead over Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the drivers' championship at the halfway stage, there is every chance that Hamilton will seal the title ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Brazilian Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the year, could also see Hamilton draw alongside or even surpass Senna's record of race wins, with the 30-year-old currently three short of his boyhood inspiration's total of 41 victories.
It would no doubt mean a great deal to Hamilton to match Senna's feats at Interlagos, the scene of some of Senna's greatest triumphs. It would be special to do so in front of the Brazilian spectators as well, who appear to have grown to love Hamilton despite his title showdown with Sao Paulo's Felipe Massa in 2008.
It would also mean Hamilton could head to the Abu Dhabi GP without pressure, having been forced to wait for his 2008 and 2014 championships until the final race of the season.
Singapore Grand Prix Will Be the Race of the Season
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Last season's Singapore Grand Prix had the potential to become a modern classic, but it proved to be one of the biggest disappointments of 2014.
A broken wiring loom on Nico Rosberg's car ensured the race was over before it even began. The German was forced to start from the pit lane and cope with no hybrid power and double-upshifts, before retiring after just 13 laps, allowing Lewis Hamilton to take an easy win and with it the lead of the championship.
Rosberg's retirement was all the more frustrating as it occurred at the one circuit where both Mercedes drivers excel, having been separated by just 0.007 seconds in qualifying the previous evening.
Hamilton has two wins and three pole positions at the Marina Bay street track, while Rosberg came close to winning the race for Williams in 2008 and had the pace to challenge his future team-mate for victory the following year before an elementary error earned him a penalty.
Their records in Singapore are strong, and should both cars remain reliable, the prospect of Hamilton and Rosberg harassing one another and racing wheel-to-wheel under the night sky (sound familiar?) will be very real.
And with Sebastian Vettel—the most successful driver in the history of the Singapore GP—and Red Bull Racing—the most successful team—bound to be close behind, Mercedes, Rosberg and Hamilton will be under huge pressure in a race that, in hot, humid conditions, will prove more demanding than usual.
For much of the first half of the season, Hamilton and Rosberg have been poles apart, and the driver who has established an early rhythm has often carried their advantage through a weekend.
But they should be inseparable in Singapore, and after 2014's "Duel in the Desert," the Mercedes drivers will be embroiled in a scrap in the streets.
After last year, Marina Bay owes us an exciting race.
Sebastian Vettel Will Win the Italian Grand Prix in His 1st Ferrari Appearance
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Sebastian Vettel's first season as a Ferrari driver has gone better than anyone, even the man himself, could have imagined when he arrived from Red Bull Racing at the end of 2014.
It took just two races for the four-time world champion to claim a win for the Italian team, taking the chequered flag in the Malaysian Grand Prix, before securing his second victory for the team in Hungary.
Those races, for very different reasons, will rank alongside the most special of Vettel's Formula One career.
But when a driver competes for the Prancing Horse, one race matters more than the rest put together.
The Italian Grand Prix is a celebration of all things Ferrari, and this year's race at Monza will be the first time Vettel will truly understand what it means to represent the most successful team in the sport's history, to hurl a scarlet-red car around corners as iconic as the Curva Grande, the Ascari chicane and Parabolica.
While logic dictates that Mercedes and Williams will be the ones to beat in Italy—given their straight-line speed advantage and the track's high-speed nature—the emotion and expectation of Monza, as well as a drop of rain, could inspire Vettel, who took his first-ever race win in the 2008 Italian GP, to victory.
Vettel was often regarded the enemy at Monza throughout his time at Red Bull, due to his rivalry with Fernando Alonso, and was booed during the podium ceremony following his win in 2013.
But the Tifosi are a fickle bunch, and they will anoint Vettel as their new saviour when the German delivers Ferrari's first Italian GP win since 2010.
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Lotus Will Miss a Race or 3 but Will Return as Renault in 2016
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The latter stages of the 2014 season were marred by the demise of the Marussia and Caterham teams, who entered administration in quick succession and were forced to miss races in the United States and Brazil.
While Caterham managed to return to compete in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the team ceased to exist soon after and Marussia, after several near-death experiences, returned to the grid for 2015.
Although no significant changes have been made to Formula One's revenue-sharing system, the health of several outfits appears to be in a much stronger position.
For instance, Monisha Kaltenborn, the team principal at Sauber—among the endangered species a year ago—recently told ESPN F1's Laurence Edmondson how her team's financial status is "better overall."
One team who seem to be in deeper trouble, however, are Lotus.
Race winners and frequent podium finishers just two years ago, the Enstone-based team are a shadow of their former selves and have stooped to new lows in their efforts to stay alive.
Lotus were late to the first pre-season test at Jerez and have signed several reserve and so-called "development drivers," with Jolyon Palmer, Carmen Jorda and Adderly Fong joining their ranks.
Per Autosport's Ian Parkes and Dieter Rencken, the team were the subject of a "winding-up petition" in July and their star driver, Romain Grosjean, telling Edmondson in a separate ESPN article how the development of Lotus' E23 car "hasn't been as good as we wanted."
At the Hungarian GP, meanwhile, Pirelli initially refused to supply tyres to Lotus for the first practice session after a financial dispute, according to Sky Sports' William Esler.
All the signs point toward a team in trouble, and if any outfit are to follow in the footsteps of Marussia and Caterham this year, it appears Lotus are most vulnerable.
It would be a shame, but not a total surprise, if their famously chirpy Twitter account goes mysteriously quiet for a few weeks in November, but the team should return to action with a brand-new look in 2016 if Renault's proposed takeover materialises.
Max Verstappen Will Stand on a Podium
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Max Verstappen just missed out on securing his first podium finish in just his 10th race in the Hungarian Grand Prix but still claimed his best-ever result.
His fourth-placed finish at the Hungaroring was the latest highlight in a season of exceeded expectations for the rookie, who qualified sixth, and then became Formula One's youngest-ever point-scorer, in just his second grand prix appearance in Malaysia.
Sixth on the grid in Spain was another high point, as was his second-place finish in FP1 at Monaco, where he made a mockery of the sport's most challenging track.
But fourth in Hungary was arguably the most impressive feat, for it showed that the 17-year-old could keep his head on afternoons when far more experienced drivers—including world champions and multiple race winners—lost all sense of discipline.
It is a characteristic that may come in handy later in the season, should Verstappen find himself in contention to break Sebastian Vettel's record as the youngest-ever podium finisher.
While Scuderia Toro Rosso's STR10 car is not quite strong enough to challenge for a top-three result in normal conditions, Verstappen could drag it to the podium in a race where the track is greasy and moisture and uncertainty permeate the air.
His early retirement from the British Grand Prix prevented the Dutchman from excelling when dark clouds formed and caused chaos at Silverstone.
Yet should rain hit, say, Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Suzuka or Interlagos, expect Verstappen's finesse and natural feel for a racing car to propel the boy wonder to the podium.
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