That must be the sentiment from the McLaren camp as the Formula One circus returns from its summer holiday. As the season drew to mandatory break four weeks ago, ostensibly to curb costs but also to give team members a break in this long, 19-race season, it was McLaren that was in the ascendancy. The outfit from Woking bagged three wins from the last five races with early season favourites Red Bull only managing one. The MP4-26 is a now competitive package with Button and Hamilton netting a win apiece at the last two races.
Red Bull may feel a little on the back foot after relinquishing points to Ferrari and McLaren of late, but that is not to say that its cars or drivers are lacking in pace. 2010 champ Sebastian Vettel still holds a 85-point lead in the championship, and that’s over his team-mate Mark Webber. Vettel could, theoretically, sit out for three races and still be points leader. Webber, though, holds a slender lead over the McLaren pair and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
That aside, Spa-Francorchamps the historic site of the Belgian Grand Prix, is a real driver’s circuit with high speed corners that suit a car with good aerodynamic grip – so perfectly suited to the RB7s of Vettel and Webber. Of course, the Ardennes Forest has a way of throwing up the most exciting races with unexpected results usually thanks to sudden downpours.
As if to underline the variability of the weather in that region, a torrential downpour dominated free practice one but not before Michael Schumacher managed to set the quickest time of the session. The seven-time world champion made his Formula One debut at this very same circuit 20 years ago, when most of his on-track rivals were entering primary school.
Schumi will be looking forward to a good result at a track where he has excelled over the previous two decades. The German took his maiden win there and in 1995 won the race starting from 16th on the grid, which could bode well for this weekend. Now a veteran of 280 races, the Schu is not under any illusions for this weekend. He acknowledges that Mercedes GP is the fourth strongest team in the field but at the same time is happy to still be involved in the sport that he obviously loves: "It’s an unusual situation and certainly not something to be expected from the beginning,” he said, “but I’m proud to be here, and glad. As I often call it, Spa’s my living room and a very particular place where lots of things, great things and special things, have happened. It is obviously a perfect scenario to celebrate this moment.”
The Belgian Grand Prix takes places this weekend.