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Friday practice was a good start. Rosberg topped both sessions, despite mechanical troubles in the first and his terrifying tyre blowout in the second. Approaching Blanchimont at 190mph, the right-rear tyre exploded, sending his Mercedes spinning.
“Definitely not fun,” Rosberg said afterwards. “It was at maximum speed, so not good.” Paddy Lowe, Mercedes technical boss, said the tyre had been threatening to explode a minute before it finally went and it was not something he had seen before.
Pirelli, Formula One’s tyre suppliers, were investigating the cause of the explosion on Friday night, with the 2013 British Grand Prix, when there were numerous blowouts, still relatively fresh in people’s minds.
Ecclestone says changes will stop engineers controlling races
The analysis of the ruined rubber will go into the night, but the homework on how master the new starts has been going on for weeks. The fairly dramatic changes – designed to stop a “bloke with a laptop” running the race, as Bernie Ecclestone put it – put the drivers back in charge. With outside assistance from engineers removed, the stars of the show will be centre stage, with no-one else to blame.
Rosberg predicted it will make “quite a big difference”, while Jenson Button suggested it could present the opportunity to make up four or five places. Button needs just that, with both the 2009 champion and his team-mate Fernando Alonso starting at the back after a combined 55-place grid penalty for changing parts of the engine. After a spate of torrid starts, Hamilton expressed his concern after the last round in Budapest. He too has been studying.
“We’ve done as much homework as we can to understand what we’ll be faced with,” the world champion said. “I guess until tomorrow we won’t really know how the car is going to perform.”
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As Sebastian Vettel, the dark horse to challenge Hamilton and Rosberg for the title, explained, after a couple of unsettled races, normal service could be resumed. Ecclestone and Formula One’s answer? Remove even more of the driver aids which have become commonplace.
“We want the drivers to race,” F1’s chief executive said. “We don’t want somebody sitting on the pit wall running the race. In my opinion, when the lights go off they should get on with it. You’ll always get the best guys doing a good job, but I don’t think they should be helped, if they’re that good.”
Hamilton’s practice was rather less eventuful
How good a driver Rosberg is will be a major subject of debate in the final nine races of the season. First, he must make amends for the collision in this race last year which saw his relationship with Hamilton reach its lowest ebb.
“There’s no hangover, no thought about the past, at all,” Hamilton added. “I’m not conscious of what he’s got to do, I’m thinking about what I’ve got to do.”
Meanwhile, the cash-strapped Lotus team are in a legal battle with their former reserve driver Charles Pic to stop their cars being impounded in Spa after Sunday’s race. Bailiffs have been circling all weekend and three senior team members were forced to guard their cars late on Thursday night for fear of them being seized. Pic claims he is owed money by the team after they failed to give him enough days in the car.