Belgian Grand Prix: Fractured paddock leaves with more questions than answers

The sport's new owner, Liberty Media, has a number of crunch questions over the sport’s long-term future to address

As Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari handed out a real beating to Mercedes to set them back on course for the world championship, leaving Lewis Hamilton and his team much to think about ahead of this weekend’s upcoming Italian Grand Prix on the Scuderia’s home ground in Monza, the underlying mood in the paddock at Spa-Francorchamps was fractious.

The manner in which Vijay Mallya’s beleagured Sahara Force India team metamorphosed towards freedom from administration and into Racing Point Force India required a huge amount of horse trading among a lot of parties.

Administrator Geoff Rowley, FOM boss Chase Carey, FIA president Jean Todt, acquisition consortium leader Lawrence Stroll, team CEO Otmar Szafnauer and, it is alleged, in the background, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, all played key yet differing roles. The result was the creation of the situation in which the new team were able to race in a new guise, albeit stripped of the 59 points the old one had scored in the world championship for constructors because they had not acquired the old team’s crucial entry to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship but elected to make their own fresh one.

Newly re-signed driver Sergio Perez and Wolff, both owed money by Mallya’s crumbling enterprise, had initiated the move to administration to bypass a winding up order and Mallya’s demand for a high price, which were threatening the team’s future.

Rowley had already successfully handled Marussia/Manor Racing’s move out of administration over the winter of 2015/2016, but both FOM and the FIA had to be creative in interpreting their own rules and the wording of the Concorde Agreement that governs the teams. Agreement was required from all of them, and as some sensed the chance of extra income from the $50m to $70m of Sahara Force India’s income that Racing Point Force India could no longer lay claim to in the absence of the old team’s entry, Williams, McLaren and Renault kicked up.

Subsequently all agreed, but then Gene Haas raised questions about what income the ‘new’ Force India should be entitled to in the coming season. He had gone through all sorts of different hoops when he chose to start his own team from scratch, rather than buying a team and becoming quasi-new by changing its entry registration and identity. That argument is ongoing.

Some midfield teams fear the creation by the bigger manufacturers – read Mercedes and possibly Ferrari – of powerful oligarchies (via the development of satellite teams) that could exert undue influence on the sport’s governance.

Ocon impressed all weekend at Spa (Getty)

The unfortunate loser in all this was the man who did so much to enliven the opening laps of the race – Force India’s Esteban Ocon who qualified a sensational third and oh so nearly snatched the lead from Vettel in a bold, four abreast, move going up to the Les Combes corner.

Ironically, with Perez re-committed and Stroll’s son Lance due to switch soon from Williams to Racing Point Force India, Mercedes protege Ocon will lose his drive. Three weeks ago, he was expected to be placed with Renault until such time in the future as Mercedes need him to partner either Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas in their works team.

But Daniel Ricciardo’s surprise move to the French team left Ocon to have a seat fitting at McLaren’s Woking factory during the summer break. Recent events, however, appear to have persuaded McLaren that they no longer want a Mercedes representative alongside new signing Carlos Sainz in 2019, putting the rising talent’s immediate future in serious jeopardy and highlighting the manner in which alliance with a major manufacturer, though often essential to get you into F1 in the first place, can end up being a double-edged sword.

Force India's return from the dead wasn't without its problems (AFP/Getty Images)

Ocon’s dilemma may yet be good news for British talent Lando Norris, who did a great job for McLaren in FP1 last Friday morning and who has impressed in testing for the team for which he is already test and reserve driver. But it could be bad news for fellow Briton George Russell. He is another Mercedes protege who currently leads Norris in the F2 championship and is thought to be a likely Williams-Mercedes driver in 2019. The need to place Ocon somewhere may derail that putative plan.

Hamilton has watched all this with interest, and offered stablemate Ocon support on Saturday when he said, “I’ve always been a supporter of Esteban. How he conducts himself and how he performs on track is exceptional and unfortunately we’re in a weird place in Formula One where you’ve got some teams that, rather than take a new up-and-coming kid, they’ll take whoever’s got the money, which means the structure of the sport is probably wrong, and how the funds are distributed.”

That in itself highlighted other problems that Carey is currently grappling with as the spotlight continues to turn on to the manner in which F1’s new owner, Liberty Media, will deal with upcoming crunch questions about the sport’s long-term future.

Ocon's future remains up in the air (AFP/Getty Images) (AFP)

Meantime, Hamilton was glum about Mercedes’ prospects given Ferrari’s resurgence and clear power advantage, which he believes will help them everywhere and not just at Monza.

“They seem to have it wherever there are straights,” he said. “You’ve got Mexico, long straights, they will have the advantage there. They generally have the advantage at places like Singapore. The next race, with this kind of performance they have on straights, we might struggle to match them there. We gave it everything we had today. We were, generally, often quicker in the middle sector in qualifying but for some reason, I think in the race even then, I couldn’t keep up. For them to pull over a second gap, that’s some serious pace they had today. So we’ve just got to keep working hard and keep pushing.”

Unless Mercedes can figure out just how Mercedes are gaining their advantage, and quickly, we may look back at Spa as the point where the championship tide took its final, conclusive, turn.